


Blurred Lines

by LivelyColorfulWorld



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic, Mark Lee (NCT)-centric, Pining, Slow Burn, Will update tags as I go!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivelyColorfulWorld/pseuds/LivelyColorfulWorld
Summary: Mark hoped his last summer with Donghyuck before they went off to university would include late-night talks, mindless strolling through the nearby town, and everything you'd expect from your typical coming-of-age movie. But of course, his witchcraft-obsessed best friend had different ideas.Apparently, magic is more dangerous than it seems.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 38
Kudos: 42





	1. Disappearing Act

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!  
> i barely got this in on Mark day but!! i did it!  
> you'd think i would've learned my lesson from the two chaptered fics i have unfinished rn, but this idea has been living rent-free in my head for a Month !! i’ve been working quite hard on it and have a lot of it planned out already so i'm super excited to share it  
> if there's a piece of music that describes this fic, it would probably be [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2SlqFoaf8s)! use that as you will  
> i hope you all enjoy the ride w me:)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some plans succeed, and but most go awry. Mark thinks he would prefer the latter.

“Hocus pocus!”

Donghyuck cracked an eye open. “You know, that isn’t gonna make this happen any faster.”

Mark shrugged. “Might as well try.” He took another handful of the stale kettle corn from the bag lying on the ground and stuffed it in his mouth. He then pointed to the creek that was in front of him and Donghyuck. “Abracadabra!”

Donghyuck opened his eyes and deflated with a dramatic sigh. “You’re hopeless. So infuriating.”

“Says you. You’ve been at this for weeks,” Mark replied through another mouthful of popcorn.

“I’m gonna keep trying. I know there’s something special about this creek, and I’m gonna find out. And _you_ ,” Donghyuck whipped around to glare at Mark, “will be my loving best friend and _support_ me.”

“I know I will, but I’m just saying there are better ways of spending our last summer together than whatever voodoo magic you’re trying to do with a tiny-ass creek, Hyuckie.” He tossed an unpopped kernel at Donghyuck, who frowned.

“At least throw an edible piece at me,” Donghyuck huffed. Mark obliged, and Donghyuck caught it out of the air. He popped it into his mouth.

“You know,” Donghyuck said, chewing slowly, “whenever you’re here I make more progress than when you’re not. Feels like whatever spirit that’s out there likes it when you’re here, even though you’re insufferable.”

“Sounds like whatever spirit would prefer for me to contact them rather than you,” Mark offered. Donghyuck stuck out his tongue at Mark, who scoffed. “Just saying!”

“I think you’d be more useful if you actually bothered to learn more about witchcraft and magic like I’ve been telling you to for the past six years,” Donghyuck snarked. “But, y’know, _just saying_!” He mocked in a high-pitched voice. Mark lobbed another piece of popcorn at him.

“I’m here for support, Hyuck,” Mark explained for what felt like the hundredth time since the summer had begun. He never got tired of reassuring Donghyuck, though. “I love you and I’m glad you’re doing what you’re interested in. So even though I think this is kinda ridiculous, I’ll stick with you.”

Donghyuck made a face. “Gross. You’re sappy.” He stood up and brushed himself off. He then walked over to Mark and held out his hand. “Come on. My dad’s probably done making dinner already.”

When Mark grabbed his hand and hoisted himself up, Donghyuck suddenly stiffened. He glanced back towards the creek, eyes wide.

“You okay?” Mark asked. When Donghyuck didn’t reply, he gently pulled his hand out of Donghyuck’s gradually-tightening grasp. As soon as he did, Donghyuck blinked, expression morphing into one of confusion.

“Sorry, I—” he shook his head. “I thought I heard something. Nevermind.”

Mark noticed Donghyuck was beginning to tremble, the way he did when he was exhausted from the amount of energy he was using, as Donghyuck had once explained it to Mark.

“Let’s head back, yeah?” He wrapped an arm around Donghyuck, who leaned into his embrace. He gave Mark an appreciative smile.

“Okay, yeah. Thanks.” 

Mark gently squeezed his shoulder in reply.

✨

Mark was laying on Donghyuck’s bed, idly rolling a pencil between his fingers as the latter flipped through a book about witchcraft. He was murmuring the occasional phrase out loud, and if it were anyone else, Mark would get annoyed. But of course, Donghyuck was the exception. He always had been.

“Don’t you think the silver is getting a bit old?” Donghyuck suddenly asked, tugging at the hair that was falling into his eyes. “I’ve had it for nearly six months now.”

Mark looked up at him. “I think it’s nice, but the dye is fading for sure,” he replied. He could barely make out Donghyuck’s features in the low light of the room, much less the color of his hair, but it didn’t matter. Mark had the color memorized.

“What do you think about purple?”

Mark stared at Donghyuck for a beat before nodding. “I think it would look good.”

He was able to see the bright beam Donghyuck gave him in reply.

“I’m thinking I’m gonna try the ritual by the creek again. I have a good feeling about it,” Donghyuck said. “I’ll have more time to focus on it when my dad goes on his business trip in a few days.”

Mark sat up, his songwriting notebook falling off of his lap. “You didn’t tell me he was leaving.”

“Yeah, it’s just gonna be us two for a few weeks. That’s fine, right? I didn’t really tell you because I assumed it would be fine,” Donghyuck explained as he turned a page. 

The idea of being alone with Donghyuck in an empty house for such an extended period of time felt too intimate to be comfortable. Granted, they had spent plenty of time as just the two of them during their six-year rollercoaster of a friendship, but recently, being around Donghyuck made his heart beat just a bit faster.

“Yeah, great,” Mark instead choked out. Donghyuck gave him a weird look, likely put off by the hoarseness of his voice, but then redirected his attention to the book lying on his lap.

“Do you think I should try activating a sigil? Maybe for my dad to have a safe flight or success at his conference? He’s been working on this project for years. I’ll just have to ask for his permission.” Donghyuck flipped another page in his book. 

Mark wrinkled his nose. Truthfully, all of Donghyuck’s fancy witchcraft vocabulary had begun to blend into each other. “Sigil?”

“You know, a symbol I can attach a phrase to and activate. I could probably sketch out the symbol for good luck and dissolve it in the creek.”

“Isn’t that considered litter?”

“It’s _magic_ ,” Donghyuck sniffed.

Mark rolled his eyes and resumed playing with his pencil.

“Fine then, if something happens to you I’ll make sure not to activate any sigils for you,” Donghyuck said. “I’ll even make something to hex you if I can.”

“Yeah, you do that, Hyuckie,” Mark replied, amused. “Lemme know how that goes.” 

“Skeptics are so _boring_. Why can’t my interest in magic rub off on you or something? Maybe you’d be less boring then.” Donghyuck fell quiet as he scanned through the page he was on. 

“I’m not _boring_ , I’m just saying that—”

“What do you think of a moonlight ceremony?” Donghyuck cut him off. “We could do that during the full moon in a few days. Or maybe something during high tide.”

Mark was about to reply when Donghyuck aggressively flipped a few pages in his book, tutting. “No, you’d insult the moon like you’ve insulted basically every spirit I’ve tried to contact. I’d rather not piss off a celestial spirit.”

“There’s an eclipse in three days,” Mark offered weakly, unsure if his input would even help. 

Donghyuck’s eyebrows shot up as he tapped a finger against his chin. “I think—holy shit, that’s the most helpful thing that’s ever come out of your mouth.”

“It is?” Mark asked, face scrunching up. “Should I feel insulted that me reminding you about a well known-event is the smartest thing I’ve said?”

“You know,” Donghyuck said, ignoring him, “I think the presence of two celestial bodies will probably amplify my magic, since celestial bodies and their spirits are super important in magic. If you don’t piss them off, that is.” He gave Mark a pointed look.

“The eclipse is at three in the morning, dude. Don’t stay up that late.” Mark frowned at Donghyuck; while he supported Donghyuck’s interest in magic, he didn’t want Donghyuck to risk his health in favor of some magic nonsense that wouldn’t even work. Donghyuck’s sleeping patterns had been especially bad recently.

“You’ve pulled all-nighters for projects,” Donghyuck pointed out. Mark winced.

“Let me be awake with you, then. I don’t want you out alone,” Mark conceded. “And don’t overexert yourself; I’d rather not have to carry your passed-out body back to your house.” They’d had a few close-calls recently, when Donghyuck had nearly toppled over from exhaustion. Mark would always lecture him, only for Donghyuck to brush off his concern with a curt “stop nagging, it’s fine.”

“God, do you really think I’d do it without you? I would wake you up and drag you along with me even if you fell asleep.” Donghyuck finally closed his book and placed it to the side, instead picking up his phone to scroll through it. 

“Really?” A flicker of warmth ignited in Mark’s chest at Donghyuck’s words.

“Yeah, obviously. I do better when you’re there,” Donghyuck explained, eyes still trained on his phone.

Mark sighed, the tiny bit of hope extinguishing. “Oh. Yeah, of course.”

“Should I try to specialize in a type of witchcraft? I’ve always seen myself as more of an eclectic witch, but maybe I’d be more successful trying to specialize in something. Maybe being a celestial witch would be better?”

“Sure,” Mark said flatly. He had suddenly lost the energy to indulge in Donghyuck’s excited rambling.

At this, Donghyck looked up at Mark, eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it when the two of them locked eyes as if challenging the other to break the silence. Mark broke the eye contact first, bowing his head to focus on the empty page in front of him. 

Mark heard Donghyuck scoot across the bed and sidle up to his side, intertwining his pinkie with Mark’s. It was their personal signal, one that promised support and comfort. It always reminded him of the time, back in 7th grade, when Donghyuck made Mark promise that they would always do everything together, interlocked pinkies sealing the vow. 

Mark exhaled, all of the tension leaving his body. He gently brushed his fingers against the inside of Donghyuck’s palm. He didn’t need to look over to know that Donghyuck was smiling.

“Excited for next year?” Donghyuck asked, his voice quiet. Mark knew he was just trying to start a conversation to diffuse the tension, but he didn’t miss the dejection that underlied the question. 

“I guess.” _Not really._

Donghyuck laced the rest of their fingers together, sighing. “I’ll miss you, you know.”

Mark squeezed his hand. He had memorized the soft texture of his fingers, the calluses on the pads of his fingers. “I’ll miss you, too.”

They both knew he was breaking their promise. Mark wished he didn’t have to. But his family was in Canada; he had to be with them. It didn’t make sense to him to be so far from them. It felt unnatural. 

“I’ll be back during breaks, Hyuck.”

Donghyuck’s grip on his hand slackened. 

Mark frowned. He was about to reply, only to be cut off by the ringing of his phone. He sheepishly smiled at Donghyuck before gently tugging his hand out of Donghyuck’s and grabbing his phone from the bedside table. “I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Donghyuck said with a wave of his hand. “Go talk to your parents; I know you miss them. Tell them I say hi.”

Mark stepped out onto the moonlit path behind Donghyuck’s house, the one that led to the creek they spent most of their daylight hours at. His phone had already stopped ringing, so he quickly dialed his parents’ home number. As the phone rang, there was a faint rustle of leaves from Mark’s left, despite there being no breeze.

Mark glanced back at the house, where Donghyuck was sitting on his bed, likely reading through one of the hundreds of articles he had downloaded about ceremonies and rituals. And then he looked back at his phone, which displayed the eleven-digit code for Canadian numbers. His parents picked up on the second ring. He knew the first question they would ask would be about next school year, when he would be thousands of miles from Donghyuck, in Vancouver.

His heart ached.

✨

If Mark could draw, he would draw the scene that was in front of him. 

Donghyuck sketching gentle yet deliberate strokes on his sketchpad, occasionally glancing towards the creek, deep in thought. His hair was messy, but Mark could catch a glimpse of the small scar on his temple—a birthmark of sorts, since Donghyuck had it for as long as he could remember. The sunlight reflecting off of the creek illuminated him, surrounding him with an ethereal glow. 

Donghyuck had always been surrounded by nature. When they were younger, he would always linger in the back of the school yard by the fence, where the wild honeysuckle bushes twisted and climbed the plastic wiring. Mark had thought he was strange to bite off the ends of the white trumpet-like flowers and pull out the stem, just to taste a single sweet drop. It seemed like too much work. 

But of course, one day when Donghyuck had noticed him staring, he had shoved a single blossom in his hand, staring him down until Mark replicated the motion he had seen Donghyuck do countless times, dropping that single bit of honey on his tongue. It was sweet, but the giggle Donghyuck let out after Mark did so was incomparably sweeter. 

“Stop staring, you look weird,” Donghyuck piped up, bringing Mark out of his reverie. “How do you write anything in your notebook? I haven’t seen you write a line in the last week.”

Mark chuckled, rubbing the nape of his neck. “Too distracted, I guess."

“You should let me read it one day. You haven’t shown me your lyrics since, like, freshman year.”

Mark snatched his forgotten notebook and clutched it to his chest. “Nah, I’m good.”

“One day I’m gonna read it. Anyways,” Donghyuck held up his sketchbook, “what do you think?”

The dark marks of his pencil had made up an elaborate sketch, the lines curving and twisting into each other. There was a small array of numbers and letters in the top right corner of the sheet. Whatever Donghyuck had made—a _sigil_ , Mark recalled—was really complex.

“It’s amazing, Hyuck,” Mark said earnestly.

“Cool, ‘cause I’m gonna destroy it now.” Donghyuck ripped the page out of his sketchpad, the sound physically paining Mark.

“I swear, your magic stuff ruins every beautiful thing ever.”

“It ruins beautiful things to make something even better,” Donghyuck huffed as he knelt at the edge of the creek. “Magic itself is beautiful.”

He gingerly placed the piece of paper on the surface of the water, and Mark watched as it slowly began to break apart. A few minutes later, it was gone, the last of the drawing somewhere within the gentle current of the stream.

Donghyuck was watching it with a serene smile. “Water is incredible, isn’t it? It can help create, or it can destroy. No wonder elemental witches find it so important.”

Mark set aside his notebook and got up to sit next to Donghyuck. Donghyuck wordlessly leaned his head on his shoulder, playing with his fingers. “I hope it works tonight,” he murmured, his breath ghosting over Mark’s skin. “I know I’m obsessed with magic for a reason. I’m not crazy, Mark.”

“I know, Hyuck.” And Mark really did know. He knew Donghyuck had felt some sort of connection as soon as he first began learning about witchcraft. He had seen firsthand the sparkle in Donghyuck’s eyes when he was talking about magic, gesturing wildly as he explained a new spell or ritual he wanted to try. No one else seemed to see it, but Mark always did.

“If it’s meant to work out, it will,” Mark said with as much reassurance as he could manage. “I think it’ll be okay. You’re good at all this witchcraft stuff.”

Donghyuck sighed. “Thanks, Mark. You’re really bony, by the way. Super uncomfortable.” 

Judging from the way Donghyuck snuggled closer to Mark, they both knew he was lying.

And for a while, it was quiet. The lapping of the creek and the occasional chirping of the birds provided a sort of ambiance that made Mark think the scenery was from something out of a movie. Donghyuck hummed a song they had heard on the radio a few days ago, when they drove into town for the carnival Donghyuck had been dying to go to.

This was how Mark wanted to spend the summer. Just him and Donghyuck and nothing else.

“I’m gonna make one for tonight, I think. Another luck sigil.”

Of course, whenever something involved Donghyuck, magic and witchcraft quickly followed.

“Don’t you think you’re overthinking it?” Mark asked with a nudge to Donghyuck’s arm. “It’ll be fine.”

He expected some kind of argument, or at least an insistence that Mark “didn’t understand the nuances of witchcraft!” 

Instead, he received a small, “You think so?” 

Mark blanched for a second, then softened. “Yeah. I really do.”

“‘Kay. Nap time.” Donghyuck shut his eyes, letting the rest of his weight sag onto Mark.

“Hyuck, get up if you’re gonna sleep on me,” Mark complained, poking his cheek. “You’re heavy.”

Donghyuck let out an obnoxiously loud snore, clinging onto Mark’s arm. Mark sighed before lying his head on Donghyuck’s and closing his eyes. A nap wouldn’t hurt, anyways.

✨

“Mark, that was my _foot_ ,” Donghyuck hissed, elbowing Mark in the stomach. Mark stumbled to the side, almost colliding with a nearby tree. Mark squinted as he looked around, trying to find where Donghyuck’s voice was coming from.

“You’re hogging the flashlight; I can’t see shit.” When Mark was able to make out Donghyuck’s figure in the dim moonlight, he pinched Donghyuck’s shoulder, who yelped and dropped his phone. 

“Then use your phone? Not my problem you’re blind.” He stooped down and fumbled around for his phone, letting out a small “aha!” when he finally found it. “We’re almost there, anyways.” 

Mark groaned and rubbed his eyes. He turned on his flashlight, finally lighting up the path they were walking along. Donghyuck was a few paces ahead of him, shaking just the slightest, but Mark knew it wasn’t just because of the frigid air. He had been a bundle of nerves since they ate dinner, pacing around his room and while trying to calm himself down to no avail.

Around one in the morning, Mark had finally convinced Donghyuck to lie down with him until they had to leave. But no matter how much Donghyuck tossed and turned as he complained about how “the eclipse is too soon to relax!”, he somehow looked just as put together as he did earlier in the day. His outfit made him seem like he was going to a party instead of some eclipse ritual. Mark was on the other side of the spectrum, though; he was sure he looked like a mess with his uncombed hair and pajama pants. Inwardly, he prayed whatever spirit that might be out there wouldn’t get offended by his appearance. 

“Mark, look,” Donghyuck whispered, pointing up at the sky. The clouds had begun to part, revealing a dark circle surrounded by a glowing ring of orange light. “Isn’t it incredible?”

“It is,” Mark replied, looking at Donghyuck, whose eyes glittered as he stared at the eclipse, mouth hanging open. It was the same childlike awe Mark had seen in Donghyuck since they were twelve years old, Donghyuck tripping over his too-big shoes as he gushed about the new magic book he had found. “It really is incredible.”

“It’s starting, come on,” Donghyuck said with a tug to Mark’s sweatshirt sleeve. “You can sit anywhere, just don’t disturb me or anything.”

“I never do,” Mark protested, but Donghyuck had already run off, sitting in front of the creek.

Mark slouched against a tree, sinking to the ground. Donghyuck’s eyes were closed, his breathing deep and slow, a sharp contrast from what he had been like earlier.

Mark pulled his notebook out of his pocket and for the first time that week, he finally began to write. It was all a bit inconvenient, with the only light being the faint glow from the eclipse and his own phone light, but being there with Donghyuck made it worth it. 

He must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew, Donghyuck was sprawled out on the ground, petulantly whining to anyone that was nearby.

“What the fuck?” Mark muttered, just loud enough for Donghyuck to hear. 

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“Did it not work?” Mark guessed. Judging from the new string of complaints that left Donghyuck’s mouth, Mark knew he had assumed correctly. “It’s fine, there’s still like, a month and a half left of summer.”

Of course, Donghyuck paid Mark no heed. Whenever Donghyuck was stuck in his head like this, too deep in his own emotions, he never listened to anyone else.

“Am I doing something wrong? Am I just not good enough for whatever spirits are out there?” Donghyuck curled his hands into fists, clenching and unclenching them as he went on his tirade. “I’ve been doing everything—literally _everything—_ so why is nothing working? I know I shouldn’t expect anything when it comes to magic because they don’t owe me anything, but _fuck_ am I just not worth it?”

“Donghyuck,” Mark began.

Donghyuck sat up, glaring up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to rise. “I _know_ I don’t owe you anything, but can you at least give me some kind of sign that I should give up? It’s been years and just radio silence.” 

Donghyuck stood up, and Mark followed him. He couldn’t figure out what Donghyuck wanted to do, his intentions masked by his emotions. And then, Donghyuck stepped into the creek.

“Hyuck, what the _fuck_!” Mark shrieked. “You’re going to get sick!”

Donghyuck ran his fingers through the water, as if he was in a trance.

“Beautiful,” he said to himself. He spun in a slow circle, swaying in the same rhythm as the ebb and flow of the water. He then raised his hands, but instead of them simply leaving the water, the water followed his movements, climbing higher and higher.

“Hyuck, what the hell is going on?” Mark yelled, running towards Donghyuck and kneeling at the side of the stream. He watched in horror as the water climbed nearly six feet high, shrouding Donghyuck in a translucent shimmering column. “Hyuck, please stop, holy _shit_ , I don’t know what’s going on but you’re gonna get yourself hurt, _fuck_!”

Donghyuck seemed to finally hear him. He looked Mark in the eyes, panic and surprise swirling together. Mark tried to reach out to him through the water, but the current was too strong, as if it was slapping his hand away. 

“Hyuck,” he whispered, raising his hand so it was flat against the torrent of water. If he could just reach through it, he could pull Donghyuck out, could feel Donghyuck’s warm skin underneath the pads of his fingers and the twinkle of his laugh. “Hyuck, can you hear me? Stay with me, okay?”

“Always,” Donghyuck mouthed. He smiled gently and nodded, and then the column of water burst, washing over Mark and soaking him to the bone. When he was finally able to open his eyes again, Donghyuck was gone.

Mark blinked, chest beginning to feel too tight to breathe. “Hyuck,” he mumbled, his previous stupor giving way to panic. “Hyuck!”

He jumped into the creek, the ice-cold water sending a shiver down his spine. “Where are you?” He kicked around the water as if it would hold any answers to where his best friend had suddenly disappeared to. “Donghyuck Lee! Stop hiding!” 

There was no response; the rustling of leaves and the running water of the creek was his only answer.

“Come out, Hyuck! This isn’t funny anymore!”

Whenever Donghyuck hid, either to escape the world or his own thoughts, Mark always knew where to find him. It had always been like that; Donghyuck would run and Mark would follow, every single time. Because Donghyuck would never go somewhere Mark couldn’t go.

As time stretched on at a shudderingly glacial pace, it became apparent Donghyuck wasn’t hiding. He had vanished into thin air.

Mark’s eyes welled with tears, glaring accusingly at the scenery around him. It all felt unfair; the birds kept chirping, the world kept turning, but Donghyuck was gone.

“Donghyuck, come back, _please,_ ” Mark sobbed. He collapsed onto the damp land next to the creek, curling in on himself. “Where _are_ you?”

He wracked his brain as he tried to figure out where Donghyuck could have gone. He was stuck, his mind drawing a blank. Donghyuck had disappeared within a column of water of his own making, and his mind swarmed with more questions than he could supply the answers to. 

Mark fumbled with his phone, typing in Donghyuck’s dad’s number with trembling fingers. His phone was badly broken from the water damage, his screen barely working and the speaker muddied. He prayed to whatever god or spirit that was out there that the call would go through.

When he finally picked up, Mark blurted into the phone, “Mr. Lee, Donghyuck’s missing and I don’t know where he is, he was here one second and then he—and now he’s just _gone_ and—”

“Mark,” he said, interrupting Mark’s frenzied rambling. “Who’s Donghyuck?”


	2. New Faces in Familiar Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the rest of the world thinks you're insane, it's only a matter of time before you start to think you are, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellloo welcome back!!!  
> the angst has Begun <3  
> hope you enjoy this chapter !

Donghyuck was missing from Mark’s lock screen picture. 

It took two days for him to notice, and Mark would like to blame the rice he dunked his phone in, but upon further inspection, all of the polaroids littering Donghyuck’s walls were edited so only Mark was in the picture. 

It was unnerving; it was like the world around him was removing every trace of Donghyuck, as if he never existed. Since he made that discovery, he would frequently worry that his memories of Donghyuck would fade as well, sitting with his head in his hands for hours on end as he recalled as many details about Donghyuck as he could. 

His songwriting book became his journal. He wrote every memory he could think of. It felt fitting; Donghyuck had been his biggest inspiration when it came to music. Every lyric, every line, it all led back to him.

Mark filled every blank page with Donghyuck. He wrote down what Donghyuck’s footsteps sounded like—light, as if he was dancing across the ground—and the gentle lilt of his voice, high and breathy. He wrote about the first time Donghyuck dyed his hair, the light brown barely showing up on his black locks. 

He wrote about the last day of sophomore year, when he and Donghyuck spent the night stargazing. 

Donghyuck’s hair—orange colored, then—had been fanned out against the ground as he pointed out constellations. “That’s yours,” he had said, pointing to a group of stars to the right of Mark. “Leo, the lion.”

Mark had looked at him. “What’s yours?”

Donghyuck had giggled, the type that escaped his mouth when he was particularly excited about something. “You can’t see it, but I’m a Gemini—the twins.” He then added on quietly, “You know, I’m pretty sure we’re an ideal match.”

Mark had pretended not to hear him; he’d been too scared to. He wondered now if their relationship would be different if he’d acknowledged what Donghyuck said. 

Deep down, Mark knew that if he could go back in time, he wouldn’t have said anything in reply. Because replying would bring change, and Mark wasn’t ready for change then, and he still wasn’t sure if he was ready even now. 

Donghyuck filled every memory in Mark’s head. Wherever Mark was, Donghyuck was; they were inseparable. Even if Donghyuck wasn’t there, he would still be on Mark’s mind. It was why writing about Donghyuck felt so natural.

But in the end, no matter how much Mark wrote about Donghyuck, it would all disappear by the next day.

Mark never stopped writing, though. He would write about Donghyuck again and again for every day of his life, if it meant he could keep the memory of Donghyuck alive. Because Mark was scared. He was scared that their memories would one day be too far away to grasp, and he would slowly forget everything that made Donghyuck an irreplaceable presence in his life. 

He silently found himself hoping that one day he would wake up and the words would remain, messy and smudged, but still inked onto the pages. Mark always had a habit of wishing for things he couldn’t have.

The thing about the internet was that no matter how much information existed on it, it still returned useless results when Mark searched up “my friend disappeared into a column of water what do i do” and other variations on the phrase. He made it through sixteen different variations and ten pages into the search page until he finally gave it up. Whatever magic the internet was run on wasn't in his favor. 

( _C code,_ his brain unhelpfully provided from his high school computer science course. Not magic. But then again, the two had always seemed the same to him.)

He couldn’t call the police, because they wouldn’t believe him. How would you explain to an officer staring you down that your best friend disappeared with only a single word? No footprints, no photographs, nothing; Donghyuck was traceless.

Mark had given up on contacting Donghyuck’s dad. He had no memory of Donghyuck, no matter how many anecdotes Mark told him. He always ended up replying with a gentle, “He sounds wonderful, Mark, but I really need to get going.” He would end the call before Mark could beg him to stay on for just a minute more, because perhaps another story would help jog his memory. 

Mark had seen the two; Donghyuck’s dad adored Donghyuck with every fibre of his being. Being around Donghyuck and his father had always felt homely, because of the pure affection his father harbored for Donghyuck. It had given Mark hope for his own family, even though he knew his family would never be as loving.

It was three a.m. when Mark finally gave into the suffocating silence that kept him captive at all hours of the day. He typed in his step-brother’s number and hoped he would answer. They had never been especially close, but when Jaehyun went off to college, he had promised Mark he would always be around to talk. For once, the time zone difference would play in his favor. Jaehyun picked up just before the line would’ve gone dead.

“What’s up, Mark?”

“Do you think I’m crazy?” Mark rushed out. “Be honest.”

Jaehyun audibly cleared his throat, uncomfortable. “I mean… depends?”

“Okay, well, my best friend kinda summoned some water powers or something and then he made some tidal wave thing with his hands and then he just went _poof_ , like just, gone! And no one remembers him and he’s missing from all of my pictures and I’m so lost.”

“Mark,” Jaehyun began, voice kind but with a twinge of concern. “Are you okay? Do you want mom and dad to fly you back to Canada? You don’t sound so great.”

“Jaehyun, why am I here?” Mark asked bluntly.

“In Korea?”

“Yeah. Why am I in Korea?”

“Pretty sure dad said you wanted to spend your last summer there because you were going to miss the environment and culture,” Jaehyun explained.

Mark frowned; that didn’t make sense. “Then who’s Mr. Lee?”

“He’s been our family friend for a _while_ ,” Jaehyun said with a sigh. “Mark, are you feeling okay?”

“Fuck, I gotta go. Thanks, Jae.” Before Jaehyun could say anything else, Mark hung up.

He couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night, staying up to retrace a trembling finger over the messy scrawl in his journal. In the dim light of the rising sun, he watched as the ink disappeared, pages wiped clean. He could only stare at the empty pages, dragging his fingers over the paper. He wondered if he pressed hard enough, his words would suddenly appear. If he wished hard enough, Donghyuck would appear. But neither worked. It never did.

When the rest of the world thought you were insane, it was only a matter of time before you started to think you were, too.

✨

Some days, Mark wondered how his life would be different if he hadn’t met Donghyuck.

The world probably would be dimmer; he would be surrounded by the monochromatic color palette of hidden alleyways and cigarette smoke, instead of the rich greens and glistening blues Donghyuck had introduced him to. 

He wouldn’t hear what passion looked like, nor what it sounded or felt like, because the word _passion_ took the form of Donghyuck Lee. Mark’s lyrics would be ones full of regret and angst, an endless search for a promised neverland.

It was probably why the world seemed duller now. Mark had observed that the sky was a dusty gray during the rare occasions he would peek out of a window. The buzz of his laptop was the only reprieve to the silence and his own thoughts. He never bothered to turn on more than one light at a time; he would always get miffed by Donghyuck’s tendency to leave random lights on throughout the house, but now there wasn’t even a Donghyuck to flick the light switch on with a shit-eating grin.

Mark went into town one day. Whenever he went into town alone, he would always get cheerful smiles and the occasional joking “where’s your other half?” He would strike up conversations with the vendors in the Sunday farmers market (he was fairly sure the young girl from the strawberries booth had a small crush on him), and leave with the promise to drag Donghyuck with him on his next trip.

Mark only went into the run-down convenience and bought four cups of instant ramen. He never looked anyone in the eyes.

It was that night, four days after Donghyuck’s disappearance when Mark stumbled over a large book in his half-asleep haze. He had been sleeping for only a few hours a day, mind thrumming with too many thoughts for him to handle. When Mark picked the book up, his throat went dry.

In his hands was Donghyuck’s witchcraft book.

He sat on the ground, slowly flipping through the worn pages. Symbols and descriptions adorned the yellowing sheets, and Mark identified Donghyuck’s messy scrawl here and there, hastily written in the corners of pages. 

For the first time in what felt like weeks, Mark smiled.

He read through the entire book, sitting on the floor of Donghyuck’s bedroom. His back ached, but he didn’t move a muscle, scanning through the detailed descriptions of each ritual, symbol, and practice that he once scorned. He recognized a few paragraphs from the times when Donghyuck would loudly read them, ignoring Mark’s complaints. He read those passages out loud to himself.

His eyelids were drooping when he reached the last page and the sun began to rise. When he settled into bed and allowed the clutches of sleep to overtake him, he dreamt of a pencil gently scraping against a thinning sketchpad and white honeysuckles.

The next morning, Mark made sure to drink water for once, and ventured outside of the house for the first time in days. He followed the trodden path he and Donghyuck had walked down so many times. Fondly, he remembered how nearly each time, Donghyuck’s attention would be stolen away by something so minuscule that Mark wouldn’t have noticed it had Donghyuck not pointed it out. Sometimes it was a bird’s nest, or a new limb of a tree that was growing in. Donghyuck had always appreciated the smaller things in life. 

Mark took his time on the path, stopping every few steps to look around. And rather than see what Donghyuck would always gush about, he heard it. The footsteps of a deer as it plodded through grass was muffled, creating a steady backdrop to the higher, faster chirp of crickets. It was music, he realized. While Donghyuck looked for beauty, Mark heard it. 

When he finally reached the creek, he sat down in front of it, bowing his head towards the water. Mark had decided to try to connect with the creek itself instead of a celestial body, because according to the research he had done earlier that day, it was incredibly difficult to connect with celestial bodies, and drained your energy very quickly. He was in awe that Donghyuck had managed to attempt it. Luckily, Mark believed him and Donghyuck had built up a strong enough connection with the creek to try and communicate with it.

He curled his toes in anticipation as he squeezed his eyes shut. Mark knew it was important to keep a steady breath and open mind, but his thoughts kept betraying him, forcing the image of Donghyuck back into his head. He placed his hands on his knees, inhaling deeply and trying to think about the creek that was in front of him.

He heard as the rustling around him crescendoed, and fought the urge to open his eyes and see what was there. It was probably another animal.

“You’re doing it all wrong.” There was a melodic chuckle that came from the side of him, and Mark finally opened his eyes to glare at whoever decided mocking him was a good idea. A man with bright blue hair was leaning against a nearby tree, grinning down at Mark. His arms were crossed, a bag dangling from one of his hands. He looked much too comfortable with their current situation for Mark’s liking; getting caught doing a ritual by a stranger must look pretty riduculous. Unlike Donghyuck, Mark always had cared far too much about what other people thought.

“And how would you know?” Mark huffed. 

He stooped down to Mark’s level and held out his free hand. “Hi. You’re Mark, right?” Mark nodded, dazed. The man smiled brightly. “I’m Taeyong Lee. Donghyuck’s brother.”

Mark stared at him. 

“Oh dear, was that too forward?” The man retracted his extended hand to rummage through the bag he was holding. “I brought tea leaves, if you’d like to talk about this over some tea.”

Mark blinked. He seriously thought he was about to pass out. 

✨

Mark fidgeted with the handle of his tea cup. He didn’t want to come off as rude, but he wasn’t sure how well his stomach would handle it, given he’d only had three cups of very undercooked ramen in the past two days.

“You know, when I first saw you, you seemed much happier than you do now,” Taeyong said calmly with a sip of his tea. 

Mark looked up from the surface of his dark-colored tea, where he was staring at his reflection—he looked horrible. “When did you first see me?”

Taeyong tapped his chin with a finger. Mark noticed it was a habit that Donghyuck did as well. “I think it was a week ago. That was when I arrived from Japan.” 

“So you stalked us for a week.” 

“That’s a bit of a harsh word. _Observed_ is more accurate,” Taeyong chided. “I was just looking out for my little brother. I know you understand. You look out for him, too.”

“Some looking out you did,” Mark said scornfully. 

Taeyong took another drink of his tea, eyes unfocused, almost wistful. “He had to leave, Mark. He’s been impatient for many years.”

Mark pursed his lips. “How do you know?” 

“I could feel it. A magical instinct, of sorts.”

Magic. Taeyong had confirmed that all of this was _magic_. It wasn’t something that could easily be explained in his high school textbooks; it was unpredictable. Mark belatedly realized that word described Donghyuck perfectly. 

“And how did you know you had to come,” Mark challenged. “Was that also a _magical instinct?_ ” 

Taeyong shook his head with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “More of a brotherly instinct.”

“He doesn’t even know you exist,” Mark pointed out. “He would’ve told me about you if he did.”

“Unfortunately, he doesn’t know I exist, yes. Neither does his father.”

It was strange, Mark mused, that Taeyong didn’t refer to Donghyuck’s father as his own father. He didn’t realize he had said it out loud until he heard Taeyong’s quiet hum of acknowledgement.

“I remember him, but the memories are pretty faint. I left home with my mother when I was seven. The day I left was the last time I saw him.”

“I’m sorry.” There was something strange about what Taeyong said, though. As far as Mark knew, Donghyuck’s mother passed away when she gave birth to Donghyuck. Perhaps it was a fabricated story so Donghyuck wouldn’t grow up with resentment towards his mother for leaving. 

“Don’t be,” Taeyong said, waving off his apology. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve grown up with family friends for most of my life. They’re just as incredible as blood-related family.” He smiled fondly, as if recalling a distant memory.

“But why doesn’t he remember you?” Mark asked. “And why doesn’t Hyuck?”

Taeyong leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. Mark watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. Without looking back at Mark, he said, “Love is a strange thing, you know. I’d rather you find out for yourself.” 

Mark didn’t know how to reply to that. He took a sip of his tea, which was now lukewarm.

“Anyways, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you sooner. I wasn’t sure if you were still here, since you suddenly stopped leaving the house when Donghyuck jumped realms. I—”

“Sorry, _realms_?” Mark interrupted him. He leaned forward so suddenly that the tea in his cup nearly spilled over, and he set it down on the table in front of him. “What ‘realms’ are you talking about?”

“Think of it like two islands.” Taeyong leaned down and pulled a sketchpad and pen out of his bag, then sketched out two circles, one smaller than the other. “They’re mostly separate, right?” He drew some squiggles representing water. “But you can still connect them through certain ways. You can have boats,” he drew a few triangles, “or you can have bridges.” He drew a few lines connecting the two circles. He then handed the sketchpad to Mark.

“The magical realm was meant to stay separate from the human world completely, but it was basically impossible, especially with changes in technology and such. So a couple centuries ago, they decreed that magic folk could have a way to go between the two realms.”

Mark studied the drawing in his lap, then looked back up at Taeyong. “They? Who’s they?”

“Magic Council. Nasty bastards, if I do say so myself.” Taeyong pulled his features into a grimace. “They made the passageways for themselves. They don’t want humans in the magic realm. Pretty sure a human’s never been able to make it in.”

Mark’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Then how the hell am I supposed to find Donghyuck?”

“I think some magic might’ve rubbed off on you. Some of Donghyuck’s magic. Mark, tell me this: do you think you would’ve forgotten Donghyuck if I came here a month later? A year later?”

Mark vehemently shook his head. “I would _never_ forget Donghyuck! Even when the world tried, I couldn't.”

Taeyong hummed. “Exactly.”

“Should I want to forget him?” Mark asked, not understanding. “What does that mean?”

“It just makes things so much harder than you two deserve.” Taeyong tapped his nails against his glass cup, which was now half-empty. “Mark, do you believe in magic? In witches? The fae?”

Mark wrinkled his nose. “Not really, no.”

“Then you might want to start. Because there’s truth in all of the fairy tales about magic. They all exist in the magical realm. I can show you, if you want.”

Mark started, scooting back in his chair. “Do I have enough magic in me to even make it that far? How can you make sure I don’t end up in any ‘blank space’ between the realms like in your picture,” Mark said, jabbing his finger in the part of the paper where Taeyong had illustrated waves.

Taeyong chuckled. “I know this passage. You won’t. It’s one of the strongest-linked bridges to the magical realm. So would you like to go there?”

Mark looked back down at the drawing, at the smaller circle of the two. “That’s where Donghyuck is, right?” 

“Without a doubt.”

Mark stood up, brushing off the hundreds of concerns filling his head. “Then yes. Please take me there now.” 

Before Taeyong could continue, Mark ran out of the room and into Donghyuck’s bedroom. He snatched his backpack from where it was leaning against a bedpost and threw as many things as he could think of into it. Some ramen, his notebook, a waterbottle, and his wallet (not that he was sure his money would even work where he was going). As he turned away from the doorway, Donghyuck’s witchcraft book caught his eye. Before Mark could convince himself otherwise, he grabbed it and hugged it to his chest.

He emerged from the room to see Taeyong looking at a picture propped up on the coffee table. It was once a picture of Donghyuck and his father, but now it was just his father, standing tall and proud as if the picture was always of him alone.

Mark awkwardly coughed, and Taeyong turned around.

“Ready?” Taeyong asked. He pointed to the book in Mark’s arms. “Do you really need that? There’ll be plenty of better things where you’re going.”

Mark paused, then remembered Donghyuck’s small notes scribbled in the corners of the pages. One of the last reminders Mark had of him. “Yeah, I’ll hold onto it.”

They walked to the creek in silence, but the everpresent sounds of nature didn’t make it feel hollow. The world seemed a bit brighter than it did a few days ago.

They stopped at the bank of the creek, and upon Taeyong’s request, Mark stepped into the shallow water. Taeyong raised his hands, his movements graceful and meticulous.

“Wait, wait,” Mark said, clambering out of the creek towards Taeyong. “Aren’t you going to come with me?”

Taeyong shook his head, somewhat remorsefully. “If I step one foot in there, I’ll get my head on a stake. You and Donghyuck will meet similar fates if you’re not careful. Look out for each other.”

Mark gulped. “Anything else I should know?”

“Nothing you won’t learn there,” Taeyong replied. His eyes shone. “You know, if you meet Johnny Seo, tell him I say hi, and that I miss him. If you need somewhere to stay, just say my name to him, and I’m sure he’ll oblige.”

“Johnny Seo,” Mark repeated. “So he _won’t_ try to kill me?”

“Never. He couldn’t even hurt a fly.” The smile on his lips felt private, as if Mark was interrupting something important. He silently lowered himself back into the creek. 

When Taeyong looked back up at Mark, Mark gave him a nod. “I’m ready.”

“Close your eyes; this might hurt.” And then Taeyong was raising his hands in the air, the typically-icy water warm around his body. 

The last thing Mark thought about was Donghyuck’s head leaning on his shoulder, playing with his fingers as if they had all of the time in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and mark's off!  
> taeyong might not be coming with him, but this isn't the last we'll see of him:)


	3. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeno then looks over to Mark, eyes widening in recognition as he breaks into a smile. “You must be Mark! You’re the person Donghyuck keeps talking about! He’s been looking for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so it begins!  
> trigger warning before we continue: there will be mentions of death from here on out. some chapters it'll be more heavily mentioned (i'll make sure to include warnings in those chapters especially), but i do want to give a heads up in general.

“Hey.”

Someone prodded Mark’s arm with a sharp object. “Hey. You alive?” Another poke, harsher than the last.

Mark blearily forced his eyes open and harsh light flooded his vision. He groaned, squeezing them shut again.

“Are you gonna get up any time soon?” 

Mark pushed himself up into a sitting position and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hands. This time, the other person was standing in front of the blinding rays of light, shielding Mark from their impact. He looked up at the other boy, who had lilac hair and a scowl on his lips. He was holding onto what looked to be a short stick with carvings in the wood. 

Lying a foot away from his was his backpack and Donghyuck’s witchcraft book, both miraculously dry. Realm jumping certainly wasn’t the smooth trip Mark envisioned. He crawled over to them, ignoring the boy’s questioning gaze. He noticed the grass was much lusher than the grass by the creek in Donghyuck’s yard, as if it had been tenderly cared for.

When Mark wrapped his hand around the book, warmth thrummed in his veins, giving him enough energy to shakily stand up and shoulder his backpack. He turned to the boy, who was watching him with equal parts confusion and curiosity.

“Where am I?” Mark asked. Merely saying the words made his lungs ache; he was exhausted. The other boy must’ve been able to tell, because he swiftly wrapped an arm around Mark's shoulders for him to lean on. It was a bit difficult, considering how the boy was shorter than Mark, but Mark sagged on him nonetheless, too tired to refuse the help.

“You’re in the Kim Woods, right outside Manyeoni. I’m Renjun Huang.” He extended his hand for a moment, then quickly retracted it, seeing that both of Mark’s hands were occupied. “What were you doing out here?”

“I—” Mark paused, carefully reconsidering his words. He couldn’t blindly trust Renjun, especially in a different _world_. “I was sent here.” Not a complete lie, but vague enough that Renjun wouldn’t suspect anything.

Renjun must’ve sensed Mark didn’t want to elaborate, so he began walking at a slow pace, and Mark quickly fell in step. “Do you have a name?” Renjun asked.

Mark knew it would be smart to give Renjun a fake name, at least until he knew he could trust the other boy, but he came up short, unable to think of one. “I’m Mark Lee,” he said finally.

Renjun hummed. He steered them towards a stone path, winding through the enormous trees. They weren’t normal, though; the leaves were of colors and shapes Mark had never seen in nature before, some shimmering as sunlight shone on them.

“Do you have somewhere to stay, Mark?”

“Well, I’m supposed to meet a friend,” Mark explained, hoping it would quell Renjun’s questions. 

At this, Renjun looked away from the path and at Mark. “Mark,” he said, “I asked if you had somewhere to stay. Not why you’re here.”

Mark chuckled nervously. Renjun was witty; Mark had to make sure he never got on Renjun’s bad side. “He probably has a place to stay already,” he lied.

Renjun returned his gaze to the path in front of them. “Well, if he’s anything like you, then he probably doesn’t.”

Mark blinked, glancing at Renjun. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever you want it to,” Renjun said with a smile. His eyes twinkled mischievously. “So who’s this friend of yours?”

“He’s—He’s also not from around here.” 

“Interesting.” That was all Renjun said, the corner of his lips twitching upwards as if he knew something Mark didn't. He fell silent, and the two ambled along the path.

The magic realm seemed to really value nature. The forest was vivacious, animals darting between the trees and bushes. Some of the animals looked quite normal-looking, but they were definitely not the same. Mark swore he saw one of the deer-like animals vanish, reappearing on the opposite side the path he and Renjun were walking on. Hiding behind a tree was something that seemed to be a unicorn, white and majestic. Mark would’ve believed his eyes were deceiving him if it wasn’t for the very-prominent horn protruding out of his head. 

He absently wondered if he was dreaming and blinked rapidly. When nothing changed, the same wooded area surrounding him, he sighed in defeat. 

“Hey, I’m gonna text a friend really quickly,” Renjun said, stopping in his tracks. “You good if I let go for a bit? You can still lean on me if you need it.”

Mark untangled himself from Renjun. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be okay, thanks.” He paused, thinking through what Renjun had said. “Wait, text?”

Renjun pulled a clunky Blackberry from his pocket, slowly tapping away at it.

“You have phones here?” Mark asked in shock. 

Renjun gave him a strange look. “Obviously. A lot of people do. Don’t you have mobile phones where you’re from?”

“We have different types,” Mark said slowly, eyeing the large phone in Renjun’s hands. “Do you guys not have iPhones or Samsungs?”

Renjun tilted his head in interest. “iPhone? Samsung? What are those?”

“Ne-nevermind.” Mark shook his head, and Renjun shrugged before continuing to type. Mark’s own Samsung Galaxy suddenly felt ten pounds heavier in his pocket. He rubbed a thumb over the smooth screen, making a mental note to check to see if it worked whenever Renjun wasn’t around to question anything. He was smart, and if he wanted to get information out of Mark, he would find a way. He probably could make Mark accidentally admit to anything if he so desired.

“We’re almost at Jeno’s,” Renjun said. “I texted him to let him know we were coming.” He slipped his phone into the pocket of his trousers (they were the type Mark had seen his parents wear, high-waisted with a straight cut, and much too old-fashioned for his liking). Mark noticed something pointy sticking out of the other pocket, and quickly deduced it was the same thing Renjun had poked Mark with earlier.

Renjun followed his gaze. “Have you seriously never seen a wand before?”

In hindsight, such an object being a wand made sense. Mark had been desensitized to depictions of wizardry in the media, ever since Donghyuck went on a long rant about how inaccurate most of it was. Apparently there was some truth in it after all.

“Not really.”

“You’ve evaded every question I’ve asked you,” Renjun bluntly remarked. “I would ask you what you’re hiding, but you would poorly evade that, too. I would be worried, but also I could probably beat you up.”

Mark wanted to point out that Renjun was smaller in both height and build, but he restrained himself. Renjun was bringing him to somewhere to stay for at least a night; the least he could do was not antagonize him.

“Yeah,” Mark meekly replied.

Renjun sized him up, furrowing his eyebrows. “You’re a strange one, Mark Lee.”

Mark took another look at the oddly-shaped plants growing on the ground, at the _wand_ in Renjun’s pocket. He nodded. “Sure.”

✨

When Mark pictured a house in the magic realm, he imagined cute cottages with ivy climbing the stone walls, shuttered windows filtering sunlight from outside. So honestly, a house similar to Donghyuck’s.

Jeno’s house was _definitely_ not that. Frankly speaking, it fit the description of a mansion, with its grand white columns framing double polished-wood doors. Mark felt unimaginably small standing at the doorstep as Renjun fumbled with the several keys on his key chain. After a minute, Renjun rolled his eyes and pulled his wand out of his pocket. He tapped the lock of the house, and it unlocked, swinging open as if beckoning them in.

The foyer was enormous, polished quartz floors leading to two winding staircases. A chandelier hung in the middle of the room, dripping diamonds and other jewels Mark couldn’t even identify. He was fairly sure it was worth more than him.

A head popped out from one of the adjacent rooms, sipping something through a straw. “Oh, you’re here,” the boy said to Renjun. He took another gulp of his drink and stepped into view, leaning against the entryway of the foyer. “Thought it would take you longer.”

“I don’t get distracted like you, Jeno.” Renjun pointed to the shifting yellow liquid in the boy’s — Jeno’s — glass. “What’s that?” 

If they were in the human world, Mark would assume some strange alcohol concoction. But that was clearly not the case when Jeno nonchalantly replied, “Trying out a new recipe. Replaced the Light Violets with the Sunsil Roots I found last week. Wanna try?” He held the glass out to Renjun who shook his head.

“Last time I drank something of yours I had no eyebrows for a _month_ ,” Renjun said, shuddering at the memory.

“That was two years ago.” Jeno shrugged and took another sip. He then looked over to Mark, eyes widening in recognition as he broke into a smile. “You must be Mark! You’re the person Donghyuck keeps talking about! He’s been looking for you.”

Mark stilled, his breath hitching in his throat. _Donghyuck._ They knew Donghyuck. He was in the right place, after all.

“I—Donghyuck—Donghyuck remembers me? You know him?” 

Renjun turned to Mark. “So Donghyuck _was_ the friend you mentioned."

Mark nodded, not taking his eyes off of Jeno.

“He never shuts up about you,” Jeno snorted, and Renjun nodded in agreement. “I found him last week in the forest. He looked pretty beat up but even then he kept asking how to ‘go back’ to see Mark—so you. Where are you guys even from?”

“Where’s Hyuck right now?” Mark asked urgently, ignoring Jeno’s question. 

“He’s out by the river practicing with Jaemin.”

Mark turned on his heel and raced out the door. River. Where was that again? In front of him was what seemed to be miles of woods, so getting lost would definitely end badly.

He stuck his head back into the house. “Where’s the river?”

“Get back in here,” Jeno replied, laughing. “I’ll text Jaemin to come back.”

Mark trudged back into the house, embarrassed. “Sounds good.”

The three of them stood in silence. It lasted for a minute before Renjun threw his hands up and said, “I’m gonna go grab something to eat,” and strolled out of the foyer. 

Jeno studied Mark with a tilt of his head, clearly interested. Mark felt oddly vulnerable under his gaze.

“So…” Mark began, pursing his lips and nodding awkwardly. “You come here often?”

“I… live here?” Jeno said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Yes, you do,” Mark replied, still nodding. “Epic.”

“Where exactly are you from?” Jeno asked, taking the last sip of his glass. He set it down on the ground. 

“Uh—” Mark tried to come up with a new, clever way to avoid his question, when something suddenly began growing on Jeno’s head, parting his brown hair. Mark paused, staring as the strange triangular masses suddenly took shape. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but you’re kinda growing cat ears?”

Jeno patted his head, and when he felt the twitching brown ears on top of his head, he sighed. “Ah. It would appear I am, yes. Must be the Sunsil and Borkit Horns reacting.”

 _Borkit Horns?_ Mark didn’t want to bother asking. “Sure,” he said faintly.

“I’m gonna go find Renjun to fix this.” Jeno bent down to pick up his glass, then gave Mark a small wave. “I’ll see you later, Mark. Good meeting you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Jeno left, and Mark stared at the white walls in front of him in contemplation. Should he go and search for Donghyuck anyways? He wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait.

“Mark!” A voice screamed. It was high-pitched and overjoyed and oh so familiar.

Mark whirred around to see Donghyuck sprinting towards him full-force, an ear-splitting beam on his lips. He launched himself into Mark’s arms, sweaty and soaked to the bone. 

“Mark,” he mumbled into Mark’s neck, gripping Mark’s back with trembling fingers. 

Mark laughed in disbelief, heart pounding as he carded through Donghyuck’s wet hair. “It’s you,” he breathed. He wrapped his arms around Donghyuck’s waist, holding him close as if he were to let go, Donghyuck would disappear again. He buried his face in the crook of Donghyuck’s shoulder, and Donghyuck's grip around him tightened. They stood like that for a while not daring to move. 

When Donghyuck began to squirm, Mark slowly broke away from their embrace and leaned his forehead against Donghyuck’s. Donghyuck looped his arms around Mark’s neck, his eyes sparkling, and Mark couldn’t tell if it was because of the lighting in Jeno’s house or the unshed tears. He swiped his thumb over Donghyuck’s cheeks, relishing in the warmth he felt under the pad of his finger. “God, it’s really you.”

“I missed you.” Donghyuck was so close that his breath fanned out across Mark’s lips, sending a tingle down his spine. 

“I missed you, too,” Mark murmured, and the small smile Donghyuck gave him was breathtaking. “More than you’ll ever know.”

“You found me,” Donghyuck said with a shake of his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you followed me.”

“You’ve never gone anywhere I couldn’t go, remember? You weren’t planning on breaking that promise now, were you?” Mark teased.

Donghyuck giggled, and Mark smiled so widely it hurt. “No, never. Thank you, Mark. Really.”

Mark would do anything to be able to lean in and press a kiss on Donghyuck’s lips, gentle yet conveying all of the feelings swirling in his chest. But he couldn’t. So instead, he reached down and linked their right pinkies together. “Of course, Hyuckie. I’d do anything for you.”

Mark didn’t need to hear Donghyuck’s reply to know he felt the same way.

✨

One bath and one (surprisingly well-cooked and _normal_ ) meal later, Mark was sitting on a couch in Jeno’s living room, watching Renjun and Donghyuck bicker back and forth. Jeno, now cat-ear-less, was sitting on one of the couch arms, while Jaemin — a pink-haired boy who was terrifyingly pretty — was watching the two with interest, occasionally throwing in a comment to egg them on. 

Mark watched in shock as the water in his glass suddenly traveled upwards, forming into a blob of liquid. It was Donghyuck who was doing that, his fingers curling as he formed the blob into a perfectly circular bubble, prepared to lob it at Renjun. Despite the circumstances, Mark couldn’t help but feel proud of how fast Donghyuck had picked up whatever it was he was doing. _Magic?_ It was a general enough explanation.

“Take the physical fights outside, please,” Jeno groaned, as if this was the thousandth time he was telling them. Based on the way Jaemin had been calling bets on who would win earlier, it probably was. “Doyoung is gonna kill me if we mess up the house again.”

“Doyoung?” Mark whispered to Jaemin. Jaemin turned to him and nodded.

“Jeno’s cousin and head of the Magic Council. He’s only here on weekends but he’s really big on cleanliness and stuff,” Jaemin explained. Mark could see that; the unused throw pillows on the couch were perfectly fluffed, and the bookshelf in the corner of the room had all of the books organized by color. He wondered what type of person Doyoung was, especially considering Taeyong had told him the Magic Council were pretty horrible people.

“I’m gonna go show Mark some stuff, bye!” Donghyuck chirped, bringing Mark out of his thoughts. He walked up to Mark and held out his hand, then dropped his voice a few octaves. “Let’s get out of here, huh?”

Mark flushed and batted away his hand, turning his head away from Donghyuck. “Shut up.” He stood up regardless, pretending not to see the smirk on Jaemin’s face. Donghyuck reached for his wrist and tugged him away, and Mark tossed a quick “bye!” over his shoulder at the other three.

When they were outside, Donghyuck intertwined their fingers and swung their hands back and forth in between them. The feeling was so familiar that Mark wanted to cry. He missed this.

“I’m gonna show you the river we practice at,” Donghyuck said, turning to the left. “It won’t take too long.”

Mark squeezed his hand in lieu of a reply.

“Everyone here is really nice. You’re gonna love it here,” Donghyuck told him, gaze flitting throughout the surrounding forest like it would when they walked to the creek together. “But what’s it like back at home?” 

Mark pursed his lips, considering whether or not to lie to Donghyuck. While he was able to somewhat get away with it with people he had just met, there was no way he could fool Donghyuck. “No one remembered you when you disappeared,” he confessed. 

Donghyuck’s face fell. “That doesn't make sense. No one? Not even my dad?”

“He didn’t, no,” Mark said gently. “Only me and your brother remembered you. Oh! By the way, you have a brother.”

Donghyuck froze. “I have a _what_?”

“I’m not really sure about the specifics,” Mark explained, “but he sorta showed up yesterday? And was like “yeah I’m Donghyuck’s brother” and did some magic stuff and sent me here.”

“Okay, holy shit, this is a lot to unpack,” Donghyuck said, blinking in shock. “Wait, we’re almost by the river. There’s some shade there and we can talk.” He tugged at Mark’s arm, and Mark willingly followed. The trees eventually led into a clearing, where a river ran through the grassy meadow. They settled on the part of the river bank that was shaded by a few overhanging branches. As soon as Mark sat down, Donghyuck laid his head in Mark’s lap, giggling at the way Mark jumped in surprise.

“You comfortable?” Mark asked incredulously

Donghyuck reached up and tapped Mark’s nose, who scrunched it at the contact. “Very.”

Mark rolled his eyes and began to mindlessly comb his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair, watching as Donghyuck spun a finger in the air. A tendril of water separated itself from the river and twirled around his finger. Donghyuck played with the bit of water, morphing it into different shapes with practiced ease.

“Water witch, huh?” Mark guessed. “Should’ve expected it, considering how much time you spent around the creek.”

“Sorta,” Donghyuck said, directing the water to flick Mark in the forehead. Mark groaned, swatting away the flower-shaped bubble of water, making it burst into droplets that fell onto his hoodie. “I’m an elemental witch with water speciality.”

“So you can use the other elements?”

Donghyuck nodded, already crooking a finger towards the river to get another small stream of water to play with. “In theory, but it’s difficult. In order to work on other specialties, you need both a certain amount of raw magic and complete mastery of the basics in your current specialty.”

Donghyuck coiled the stream of water around Mark’s arm, letting it travel up to his shoulder before bringing it in front of them and connecting the ends. He added a finger to the one currently circling in the air, making inside of the circle fill out into a perfectly-shaped sphere.

“You don’t use a wand,” Mark noted. 

“You don’t necessarily need one,” Donghyuck explained. He flicked his wrist upwards, and the bubble shot up in the same direction. “Renjun uses a wand because he likes how it focuses his magic. I like using my hands, though. It’s more powerful, but takes more energy.” He snapped his wrist downwards, and the bubble plummeted down, bursting on Mark’s head.

“Can you _stop_ throwing water at me,” Mark grumbled. 

Donghyuck laughed giddily, and all of Mark’s irritation fizzled away. 

“So, tell me about my brother,” Donghyuck said, one hand already reaching out to grasp Mark’s free hand. He began to play with Mark’s fingers, almost unconsciously, his full attention directed towards Mark. 

“His name’s Taeyong. He’s nice.” Truthfully, Mark hadn’t paid enough attention to Taeyong to make any extensive assumptions about him. He was more focused on what Taeyong had to say. “Helpful. Quite pretty, too.”

At that, Donghyuck pouted. “But I’m prettier, right?” 

Mark snorted and leaned down, his eyes finding Donghyuck’s. “You’re the prettiest.”

Donghyuck flushed and he looked away quickly. “Good,” he huffed.

Mark smiled and leaned back, his fingers still running through Donghyuck’s silver hair. He began to play with the locks, gently twirling them around his fingers in a similar way that Donghyuck did to the water. Donghyuck closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

“Have you told them yet? That we’re not from here?” Mark asked softly. He felt Donghyuck shake his head in his lap.

“I think we should, though. They seem trustworthy enough, and it’s getting kinda hard to keep hiding everything.” Donghyuck pulled his own iPhone out of his pocket, holding it up to Mark. “Apparently they don’t know what an iPhone is. I showed this to them and they all were really confused. Called it a ‘mini-tv.’”

Mark took the phone from Donghyuck’s hand and turned it on. His own face stared back at him, head thrown back mid-laugh. He couldn’t even remember when the picture was taken; it had to be in the last year, because Donghyuck had switched his phone from a Samsung to an iPhone before the beginning of the school year.

“It’s like they’re stuck in the 90s or early 2000s,” Mark said, turning over the phone in his hand. “You know, Taeyong told me something strange before I left.”

Donghyuck hummed in indication that he was listening.

“He said if he came here, he would get killed. And if we weren’t careful, we would be too.”

Mark looked down at Donghyuck, whose eyebrows were furrowed. “It’s probably because we’re from the human world or something. Or maybe we’re from some kind-of future world.” He reached for his phone and turned it on, holding it above his face. 

“It’s not the future, though,” Mark quickly replied, taking the phone from Donghyuck, who whined irritably. He turned it on again and showed Donghyuck the screen. “Look at the date.”

“It’s one week after the eclipse.” Donghyuck grabbed his phone again and inspected it, almost as if he expected it to suddenly change. “So time is running at the same time here as back in the human world.”

“There’s just some weird stall in the years, yeah,” Mark confirmed. 

“Le, can you _stop_ shrinking! You’re making this harder than it has to be!” A voice shrieked from the depths of the forest behind them.

“‘Sung!” Donghyuck gasped, shooting up in Mark’s lap. “They both came back!” He jumped to his feet, already running into the forest.

Mark could do nothing but watch as Donghyuck disappeared behind the trees. There was a scream, then two different voices began to bicker, with high-pitched giggling in the background. Mark had to admit, he was quite surprised by the sheer amount of people Donghyuck had been able to engage in arguments just in one day.

A few minutes later, he emerged, dragging one boy out in a chokehold and another trailing behind him, looking quite pleased. 

“Hyuck!” The one in Donghyuck’s chokehold complained. He pouted and looked up at Donghyuck, but when Donghyuck didn’t yield, he suddenly disappeared.

“What the fuck,” Mark whispered to himself. 

“Hi!” A voice screeched from next to him, and Mark went flailing onto his back with a yelp. The boy leaned over him and stuck out his hand. “I’m Chenle!”

The first thing Mark noticed was his pointy ears, peeking out from under his blonde hair.

“I’m Mark,” he said. “Are you an elf?” 

Chenle made a face. “What? No!” He closed his eyes, and in an instant, wings suddenly appeared behind him, light blue and shimmering. He did a twirl, giggling. “Fairy! One of the fae, to be exact. I can shrink into the size of a pixie and fly and stuff.” He beamed.

“Cool,” Mark said weakly.

There was a sharp gust of wind, and Chenle toppled over with a yell, disappearing before he could hit the ground. Mark looked in the direction of where the wind had come from, where the taller boy was standing. He wiggled two fingers in greeting.

“Nice to finally meet you, Mark,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “I’m Jisung.”

Mark gave him a small wave in response, before turning his gaze to Donghyuck. _What the fuck?_ He mouthed. Donghyuck lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, grinning brightly. 

“Le and Jisung left a few days ago to go to Yosezi,” Donghyuck explained. When Mark raised his eyebrows as if to ask what the _hell_ Yosezi was, he quickly elaborated, “the city where most of the Fae live.”

“But we’re back!” A voice loudly chirped from in front of Mark, making Mark’s heart jump into his throat. Chenle was sitting on a large rock in the middle of the river, his legs crossed and dangling right above the water.

“Dude, you gotta stop doing that,” Mark begged, clutching his chest. “I’m going to go into cardiac arrest.”

“You get used to it,” Jisung wryly commented. He walked up to Mark and sat down next to him. He peered at Mark, inspecting him with increased interest than earlier. “So _you’re_ Mark. You know, Donghyuck literally only talks about you—”

“Okay!” Donghyuck said as he clasped a hand over Jisung’s mouth. “Moving on, we need to talk to you about something.” He slowly removed his hand from Jisung’s mouth, narrowing his eyes in warning. Jisung snickered.

Donghyuck walked over to where Mark was sitting and plopped himself into Mark’s lap without warning, leaning back into Mark’s chest as Mark’s hands instinctively flew to wrap around Donghyuck’s waist.

“Is this normal?” Jisung asked, not bothering to hide his disgust.

“You get used to it,” Mark parroted, hooking his chin onto Donghyuck’s shoulder. He poked Donghyuck’s side, which made the latter squirm. “Tell them.”

Truthfully, he had no idea what Donghyuck was about to say, but if he didn’t prompt Donghyuck to speak, he would probably start fighting with Jisung again, judging from what he’d seen in the past day.

“Soo hypothetically, what if two humans came to the magic realm and one of them could do magic?” Donghyuck’s voice was light, and to the untrained ear, it would sound like a regular question. It clearly wasn’t a normal one, though, based on the way both Jisung and Chenle froze.

“What?” Jisung muttered from beside them. 

“Well, hypothetically,” Chenle began, pursing his lips, “that shouldn’t even be able to happen.”

Donghyuck smiled cheerfully. “Nice, because we’re both human.”

Mark sighed, lightly shoving one of Donghyuck’s shoulders. “Couldn’t you have let them down more easily or something.” 

Jisung dropped his head in his hands. “Oh, this is not good.”

Chenle disappeared from his rock, reappearing directly in front of Donghyuck and Mark. He grabbed Donghyuck’s face in his hands, turning it side-to-side as he shook his head. “No, no, this should be impossible. There’s no way.”

“Hey, what’s wrong? It doesn’t even matter,” Donghyuck asked, batting away Chenle’s hands.

Chenle exhaled sharply. “No, Hyuck, you don’t get it. Humans shouldn’t be able to _do magic—_ ” he gestured at Donghyuck, “—or even be here—” he gestured at Mark. “Something’s wrong. This shouldn’t be happening.”

Donghyuck sat up in Mark’s lap, becoming defensive. “I mean, it’s not that bad, right? It just means we can do magic, that’s it.”

“No, it’s not like that.” Jisung was biting his thumb, agitated by the turn in events. “It’s _bad_.”

“Hyuck,” Chenle said, tone urgent, “the last time the passageways to the human realm were open, a quarter of the entire population of the capitol died.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have been introduced to almost all of the main crew!!  
> (i am subtly spreading the cat jeno agenda <33)  
> bit of an ominous ending there though ;o


	4. Unraveling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions begin to rise following Mark and Donghyuck’s confession that they’re human, and and Mark realizes just how unsafe they are in the magic realm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! sorry it’s been a while, there were some wips that demanded my attention + i rewrote and edited this chapter quite a bit, but here it is!

Mark had lived through several uncomfortable events in his life. Such events included when Mark was eleven and threw up all over the pretty girl that had given him a box of chocolates on White Day, and the time when he was sixteen and had to explain to his mother that _no, Donghyuck just threw a book at me on accident, no one’s punching me_. 

However, being sandwiched between two witches while being told that he shouldn’t be able to exist was definitely up there on the list.

As soon as Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun arrived at the riverside, Jisung and Chenle had disappeared, announcing they were going to head back to Chenle’s house. Jeno had quietly explained that Jisung was quite sensitive about the mass genocide Chenle had alluded to. 

“His parents died during the massacre, when he was really young,” Jeno had said. “We try not to mention it, especially by name.” Renjun had nodded in agreement, his hands fidgeting with his wand but his expression carefully neutral. 

They had dropped the subject then, the other three deeming Mark and Donghyuck’s existence in the magical realm a more pressing issue. 

“There’s genuinely no way you two could be here if you’re human,” Jeno said as he paced in front of Mark. “They had the most powerful witches seal off all of the pathways, we _all_ saw it happen.”

Jaemin was curled up on Mark’s side, offering the occasional input while playing with a blade of grass. For some reason, Mark almost found the repetitive motions of Jaemin growing the bit of grass then immediately shrinking it more stressful than the rest of the situation happening around him.

“We need to tell someone,” Jeno announced.

Renjun looked up from Mark’s other side, his mouth dropping open in horror. “We are _not_ telling anyone!”

“If we just tell someone, like maybe Doy—”

“We are not telling Doyoung!” Renjun snapped. “Do you have any idea what could happen to them? To us?”

Jeno sighed and threw his head back in frustration. “Doyoung’s not like the rest of the council.”

“Jeno,” Renjun laughed mirthlessly, “he is literally the head of the entire damn council! He’s going to tell them, he’s literally obligated to.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Jaemin gently said, “He’s right, Jeno. It’s risky.”

“Jaemin, be reasonable for a second! Without any bias, I need you to consider this. We’re all in a lot of danger if we hide them. They’re dangerous!”

Donghyuck stood up, his eyebrows furrowed. “We’re not a liability, Jeno,” he interrupted, his voice shaking with repressed frustration. “We’re just from the human world. That’s literally it. We’re not going to uproot everything and cause chaos.”

Jeno whirred around on his heel, his hands clenched. “Then why did the last person that went to the human world come back a homicidal _lunatic_?”

Renjun flinched. Jaemin’s movements halted, letting the piece of grass flutter to the ground. 

Donghyuck’s expression shuttered and his shoulders slumped. “What do you mean?” He asked quietly. 

Jaemin opened his mouth to respond, but he took a cursory glance at Renjun and Jeno before deciding otherwise. “They’re not dangerous,” he said instead, his voice firmer than before.

Jeno turned to him with crossed arms. “How would you know? They’ll ruin us! All they know is how to destroy things!”

“You’re starting to sound a lot like Doyoung, you know,” Renjun said before Jaemin could reply. Jaemin tried to reach out to him, likely in an attempt to calm him down, but Renjun shook him off. He stood up and stomped towards Jeno, who was eyeing Renjun with such intensity that Mark couldn’t help but shrink in on himself. “Jeno, maybe it’s time to grow a spine and realize you’re _not_ him. Be your own person for once in your goddamn life.”

Renjun glared at Jeno for a beat before shoving him with his shoulder and storming off into the forest. Donghyuck’s eyes were wide, staring off to where Renjun had disappeared to. He got up to run after him, but Jaemin was quick to call out his name and halt Donghyuck in his tracks.

“Don’t. He needs time to cool off.”

Donghyuck sighed but complied, sitting down next to Mark and laying his head on Mark’s shoulder while playing with the cover of the book that was previously left forgotten on the grass. 

Jeno massaged his temples and exhaled before opening his eyes and plastering a smile on his face. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to argue in front of you guys like that.”

Jaemin sighed quietly but didn’t reply. When Donghyuck didn’t make any movement to respond either, Mark said, “It’s alright, don’t worry about it.” Jeno’s smile became more authentic and he nodded gratefully. 

Mark couldn’t find it in himself to reciprocate it. 

“We’ll talk more tomorrow about this. Let’s just head home, it’s almost sundown anyways,” Jeno said, looking up at the warm sunset beginning to take form overhead. “Sorry if I made you guys uncomfortable. I-I don’t really have anything against humans in the way I might’ve sounded like. So you all are still welcome to stay at my house, of course, if you’re still comfortable with that.”

“We don’t really have anywhere else to go, so, thanks,” Donghyuck said. Mark nodded in agreement. 

He had the feeling that while Jeno was genuinely remorseful, he wasn’t going to forget about this, if it was as big of a deal as everyone was making it out to be. 

Jaemin was the first to stand, and he was looking at Jeno with such a mix of pity and understanding that Mark felt the need to look away. He instead looked down at Donghyuck, his brows furrowed as he gazed up at Mark. 

“We’ll be okay,” Mark whispered with as much reassurance as he could “We’re not whatever crazy person Jeno mentioned. I can’t even do magic, and you’re pretty good at it.” 

When Donghyuck’s expression didn’t smooth out, forehead wrinkling in concern, Mark rubbed a thumb along Donghyuck’s forehead, following the path of the wrinkles until Donghyuck’s expression finally relaxed. The corner of his lips quirked upwards. “Thanks.”

Mark reached down and squeezed his hand. “Anytime.”

There was the rustling of leaves in the background, and both Mark and Donghyuck turned to see Jaemin flick his wrist as the mouth of the woods, the trees parting to the side and making a clear path. Jeno murmured out a “thank you” to Jaemin before disappearing down the path. Jaemin looked back at them and beckoned them to follow him.

“If he’s a fae, why doesn’t he have pointy ears like Chenle?” Mark whispered to Donghyuck as they walked through the woods. 

“He’s only half,” Donghyuck explained. “Half-fae, half-witch. He can do nature-based magic, which includes general spells, and he’s able to dabble in different types of witch magic. But he’s not strong enough to really have a base witch class or have wings like most fae.”

“That’s pretty powerful, then,” Mark said in awe.

Donghyuck nodded in agreement. “He has a lot of opportunities to develop his magic, yeah.”

Mark hummed. “So how exactly did the whole half-witch-half-fae thing work?”

Donghyuck shrugged. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”

When growls began to echo through the forest, low and menacing, the four of them picked up their pace, jogging the rest of the way to Jeno’s house. Once Jeno had closed the door behind them, everyone dispersed throughout the house, Jeno going upstairs while Jaemin embarked into the kitchen.

Mark and Donghyuck stood awkwardly in the foyer, unsure where to go. They exchanged a confused look before wordlessly trailing after Jaemin.

Mark rounded the kitchen island and plucked a fruit that resembled an apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the island. Donghyuck easily jumped on top of the counter and swung his legs as he watched Mark study the fruit. After a few seconds of deliberation, Mark bit into the fruit. It was sour and had an underlying earthy taste. He looked at the bitten fruit, the inside electric green.

He groaned to himself. It looked like toxic waste. But it had to be edible enough that it was in the kitchen, displayed on top of a kitchen island in a bowl.

“Hey, that’s not edible,” Jaemin smoothly pointed out as he strolled behind Mark to open a cabinet.

Donghyuck snickered as Mark sighed again, wandering around the kitchen to find the trash-can. “Then why is it in the fruit bowl?”

“Decorative. Also, I think Jeno uses it for brewing.”

“Speaking of Jeno,” Mark began. He noticed Jaemin’s warm smile become pinched as he turned around to place three glasses on the table. “Does Jeno hate us now?”

Jaemin shook his head. “Hate isn’t really the right word. It’s more ‘uncomfortable’ right now. He’s been really stressed lately, so I think this just pushed it over the edge. He’s like Doyoung; he doesn’t really like the ideas of humans in the magic realm, if that makes sense. We had to literally force him to get a phone.”

“He’ll come around though, right?” Donghyuck asked somewhat hesitantly.

“As soon as he sees that you guys aren’t posing some sort of threat or something, he’ll be okay, yeah,” Jaemin told them both. “It’ll just take some time.”

Donghyuck sighed and nodded, redirecting his attention to the empty cups sitting on the counter. He filled them with a stream of water from the refrigerator on the opposite side of the room. He slid a cup over to Jaemin and another to Mark, who gratefully picked it up and took a sip.

“Are Jun and Jeno always like this?” Donghyuck asked as he traced the rim of his own cup, the water in the glass swirling in sync with his finger. “I’ve really never seen them argue like this before.”

“They blow up at each other once a week,” Jaemin admitted with a light laugh. “But they’re close. They’ve been friends since they were little, but it got a bit rocky once Jeno started changing, as Renjun puts it.”

“Changing?” Mark echoed.

“He started taking up too much, biting off more than he could chew. He holds himself to pretty high standards and doesn’t really give himself a chance to relax and be himself. I’m not really sure when he really started changing his personality and such. Renjun says it was about five years ago.”

“Were you not there?” Mark asked. Based on how close he, Jeno, and Renjun seemed to be, he would’ve assumed the three had grown up together

Jaemin shook his head. “I kinda butt-into their friendship around four years ago? Yeah, around then.”

“They really appreciate you, though,” Mark said earnestly.

“Yeah, like you’re literally their peacemaker,” Donghyuck chimed in.

“Oh.” Jaemin blinked. “When you put it like that, you make it sound important.”

“It is!” Donghyuck insisted. “They would literally be dead without you.”

Jaemin’s cheeks went pink. “I guess, yeah. Thanks.” He gave Donghyuck and Mark a warm smile, both of them returning it.

Donghyuck then scooted across the counter until he was right in front of Mark. As Donghyuck dangled his legs over Mark’s shoulders and propped up his head on Mark’s, Mark gave Jaemin an apologetic shrug, but Jaemin looked as if he was stifling a laugh at the sight.

“Jaem,” Donghyuck said, “do you think we could go into Manyeoni tomorrow to pick up some things? I was thinking of getting a proper spellbook or something.”

“Manyeoni?” Mark looked up at Donghyuck in confusion.

“It’s the capital city.” Donghyuck flicked his head. “Keep up.”

“To answer your question,” Jaemin interrupted, “yes, we probably can. I’ll talk to Jeno and Renjun tonight, because I think they both have things they want to pick up.”

“You might want to ease up on the magic, though,” Mark told Donghyuck. Donghyuck’s expression immediately darkened, and Mark rushed to explain himself. “Like, just show Jeno you’re not much of a threat or whatever.”

Donghyuck sharply inhaled. “Mark—”

“I know Jen. He’ll come around. Don’t worry about it.” Jaemin nodded at them both, and Mark felt Donghyuck slump against him in relief. 

There were footsteps from the foyer, and then Renjun walked into the kitchen, his hair disheveled as if he had just woken up, but his skin practically glowing under the moonlight streaming from the large kitchen windows. He gave Donghyuck and Mark a small smile and wave, then turned to Jaemin.

“I’m gonna…” he cocked his head towards the door leading to what Mark presumed was some sort of backyard.

“I’ll meet you out there,” Jaemin told him softly. Renjun nodded, the tension easing out of his shoulders, before opening the door and disappearing into the night.

“Isn’t it dangerous right now?” Mark asked, trying to make out where Renjun was. There were bursts of silvery light at times, but other than that, it was pitch-dark.

“Not for him,” Jaemin explained. “He’s a celestial witch with a moon speciality.” Another burst of light, brighter than the previous few. “The moon magnifies his aura, so it makes him stronger. If he were to encounter something out there, he would easily be able to fend it off.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Mark said, for lack of anything else to say.

Jaemin wryly smiled. “It is, isn’t it? I’m going to go head out to find him. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

With that, Jaemin left, leaving Mark and Donghyuck alone in the kitchen. As soon as the door swung shut behind him, Donghyuck unattached himself from Mark and jumped onto the ground.

“Is it safe here?” Mark whispered. “This is literally Jeno’s house, and he really doesn’t like us right now.”

“He doesn’t have bad intentions. I’ve only known him for a week longer than you, but he seems like a good person, especially if you consider what Jaemin said. Maybe we should give him a chance. Plus, we don’t have much of an alternative place.” Donghyuck gnawed on his lip as he searched Mark’s face for some sort of reaction.

There were footsteps, and the two jumped apart as Jeno walked into the kitchen, not looking much better than Renjun. He gave Donghyuck and Mark a tired smile. “Just gonna talk to someone really quickly.” He then walked over to the far end of the kitchen counter, where an opaque crystal ball sat. 

He tapped on the crystal ball and mumbled a few words. After a beat, Jeno spoke, his voice quiet, wavering. “Hey, Doie.”

Another man’s voice crackled through the now-translucent glass, and Mark faintly made out a mop of curly hair where Jeno’s reflection should’ve been. “Jen. You okay? What’s wrong?”

Mark tuned out their conversation to turn to Donghyuck in panic. “Should we stay and listen to make sure he doesn’t say anything?” He hissed to Donghyuck. “I mean, I know this is probably personal, but I’m not sure if we can trust him not to spill to Doyoung.” 

Donghyuck shook his head. “I trust him. We should trust him now, and give him the chance to trust us in return.” He held out his hand, palm-up, and Mark took it. “Let’s just go upstairs and sleep this all off. It’ll be fine.”

As Jeno and Doyoung continued their conversation, Mark slowly shuffled him and Donghyuck towards the foyer, careful to make as little noise as possible so as to not disturb Jeno.

The way Doyoung had spoken reminded Mark of Jaehyun, the genuine care he had for Jeno obvious in his voice. Jeno and Doyoung’s relationship seemed similar to Mark’s own with Jaehyun. The two had probably grown up together. Mark vaguely wondered if he could contact anyone from the human world from the magic realm. How was Jaehyun doing? His parents? Did they even remember him at all?

The thought that someone like Jaehyun was the person he had to be wary of was probably the most frightening of them all. Doyoung was someone that could, that _would_ exile Mark and Donghyuck from the realm — if not do something worse — if he discovered that he and Donghyuck were human. It wouldn’t hurt for him, but he knew it would shatter Donghyuck.

“While we’re in Manyeoni, we need to get you actual clothes,” Donghyuck said, pinching the cloth of Mark’s tattered hoodie and effectively drawing him out of his thoughts. “You can’t wear this forever.”

“Why, so you can steal my clothes?”

Donghyuck grinned. “That’s the plan.”

Once they made it to Donghyuck’s room, Donghyuck tossed Mark a pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt from his closet, then disappeared into the connecting bathroom. Mark followed him, praying they had some spare toiletries for the night.

Luckily, Donghyuck was already a step ahead, rummaging around in a drawer until he pulled out a new toothbrush. He handed it to Mark. “Jisung and Chenle sometimes stay over when they get lonely in Chenle’s house, so Jeno has lots of spares,” he said quietly, drowsiness already seeping into his voice. He gave Mark a lopsided smile and turned on the tap. He mindlessly played with a bit of the water, making small shapes with a finger.

As Mark watched him morph the stream of water into bubbles and rings, he couldn’t help but wonder.

If Donghyuck was human, why could he do magic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :eye emoji:


	5. Manyeoni

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Mark, and Donghyuck travel to Manyeoni, Mark finds that Manyeoni brings more surprises and questions than answers.
> 
> But that's the thing with magic, right? There's always more than what meets the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy it's been a hot minute (again) sorry!! life's been a mess + i rewrote this chapter quite a few times ,,, but i finally got something i'm happy with! hope you all enjoy<3
> 
> repeating the warning from last chapter for the last time; darker themes are rlly coming up, pls be cognizant of that thank uu<3

Mark soon discovered that being a human in a world full of magic kind-of  _ sucked. _

That morning, Renjun had explained you usually could teleport using simple spells to travel around, easy enough that it could work for the fae as well. But Jaemin was concerned about how it might affect Mark, due to his obvious lack of magic-ness. So the five of them were stuck walking to Manyeoni, which honestly didn’t take longer than an hour, but it was long enough for Mark to crave the ability to simply teleport there.

It wouldn’t have been as bad if the walk wasn’t so awkward.

The air was thick with tension, Renjun and Jeno walking on opposite sides and completely ignoring each other. Jeno was flipping through a book, the one that they had been reading the day before at the river, while Renjun and Donghyuck were keeping up a conversation nearly ten feet to the right. Mark swore Renjun was laughing louder than usual just to piss Jeno off.

Jaemin fell into step with Mark, looking the most collected out of the three, but not by much. “How are you doing?”

Mark huffed out a quiet laugh. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“I’m okay. The other two are going to be fine, too,” Jaemin said, as if he had guessed the question that had been sitting on the tip of Mark’s tongue since the five of them left Jeno’s house earlier that morning.

“That’s good. I don’t know how much more of this I could take. I have no idea how you deal with this,” Mark admitted.

Jaemin smiled gently. “You get used to it.” Mark frowned, but Jaemin didn’t seem to want to elaborate further, so he dropped the topic.

“So, half-fae half-witch, huh?” He began conversationally. “What’s that like?”

Jaemin snorted, but his posture tensed up at the question. “Lonely.” 

Mark furrowed his brows. “Is it not common?” As far as he knew, the fae and witches had coexisted for centuries, probably even more. The fact that half-faes weren’t common was a bit strange to him.

“Not at all. It’s like, we’ve always had the option to ‘mix,’ but most people choose to stick with their own kind. You know what I mean, right?”

Mark nodded. He had seen what Jaemin was describing when he spent winter break in Canada several years ago. He had noticed that all of the Koreans stuck together, almost in a bubble, sealed away from the rest of Vancouver. 

“It’s just how it is sometimes,” Mark finally said. “If I’m being honest, I think you have a really cool mixture of magic.”

Jaemin shrugged. “I guess it’s okay. It’s weird.”

Mark lightly nudged Jaemin with his arm. “Well, we can be weird together, then.” 

At that, Jaemin beamed. “Yeah, sure.”

There was a gasp from behind them. Mark thought Jeno had run into a tree again, but when he glanced back at Jeno, Jeno was standing in one place, scanning over a page with a bright smile.

“Auras!” He called out, finally looking away from his book. “The reason Hyuck was able to make it here alone was because he somehow has an aura!”

Mark bit his lip. The word sounded familiar, but he wasn’t sure why. He glanced over at Donghyuck.  _ The fuck is an aura? _ he mouthed to Donghyuck. Donghyuck shrugged.

Renjun’s eyes lit up as realization dawned on him. “Jeno, you absolute—” he cut himself off with a step towards Jeno, clapping his hands together. That might be why Hyuck can do magic! I haven’t even  _ considered  _ auras, Jen—”

“So what exactly is an aura?” Mark asked. Renjun and Jeno turned to Mark, the latter looking a bit annoyed, but his features quickly smoothed out.

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know this, would you?” Jeno said.

He wasn’t exactly expecting an answer, but Mark gave him one anyways. “Yeah, ignorant human here.” 

Renjun snorted. “Well, magic is Iike an extension of your energy. So here, auras are like a manifestation of your magic. The ceremonial witches are the only people that can see it.” 

Donghyuck’s eyes went wide. “So can you see my aura?” He gushed. 

“If he had to theorize if you had an aura, then he can’t,” Mark spoke up before Jeno could reply. As the words left his mouth, he realized how condescending he probably sounded. “I mean, maybe you can,” he added quickly.

Jeno shook his head, not seeming as offended as Mark had feared. “No, you’re right. I can’t see it, and it’s honestly a rumor that ceremonial witches can see it. It’s said that you need to have complete mastery over the ceremonial class to be able to see auras. So that means a perfect grasp on brewing, rituals,  _ and  _ divination. All while having enough raw magic to even attempt to master the entire class."

“So in short,” Renjun piped up, “it's near impossible. The ceremonial class is the easiest to learn or switch to, but it’s the hardest to master, since it involves the most pure magic out of the three classes.”

Jeno nodded in agreement. “The only witch who supposedly managed to reach that level of mastery was my aunt, Doyoung’s mom. She was the former head of the council before Doyoung.”

“So basically no one can see auras now?” Donghyuck asked, not bothering to hide his disappointment.

“I mean, it should be a good thing,” Jaemin suddenly said. He drummed his fingers against his chest, deep in thought, before nodding to himself. “Yeah, it’ll play in your favor. Now, no one can tell if you both have auras or not.”

“Humans shouldn’t have auras in the first place. It’s why humans can’t come to the magic realm without help and aren’t able to perform magic,” Renjun added, gesturing to Mark. “It’s why it’s strange you’re both here. You’re so… strange.”

“Thanks,” Mark said dryly. Renjun shrugged, clearly nonplussed. “So we’re breaking the laws of witchery or whatever? I don’t have an aura which makes sense, but Donghyuck somehow does?”

“I’m thinking that it’s possible that magic might’ve leaked out from the pathway you guys came through,” Jeno said as he shut the book he was flipping through. 

Renjun hummed. “It’s possible, because magic can rub off on people when they’re intimately connected with the source. So if you guys were somehow connected with the pathway, it could've happened without you all realizing it. And if this were to happen, you would, hypothetically, actually have an aura.”

_ So the pathway must’ve been the creek,  _ Mark figured. The magic from the creek must’ve rubbed off on them after the many years they spent by the creek. So his assumption was right; they were connected with the spirit of the creek, in a sense, though it was more of unwittingly acquainted with the pathway itself. However, it didn’t explain why only Donghyuck seemed to have the ability to perform magic.

“Can I do magic?” Mark asked, furrowing his brows. The other four turned their heads towards him, all wearing matching baffled expressions, though Donghyuck and Renjun looked more amused than anything. “It’s just a question!”

Renjun raised an eyebrow. “Did you feel anything when you tried to cross the pathway?” 

Mark shook his head. He hadn’t felt anything special when he had tried to connect with the creek alone. He wouldn’t have been able to even make it to the magic realm without Taeyong.

“Then there's your answer.”

“Then why did it affect Donghyuck and not me?” 

“Accident? Or maybe you’re just so painfully human that magic just didn’t stick or something.”

Mark made a face at that possibility. “I literally look the same as you guys?”

“Painfully human,” Renjun repeated.

“Mark insulted magic a lot before we came here,” Donghyuck pointed out just as Mark was about to retort with something  _ definitely _ witty. “That probably did the trick.”

Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno’s eyes went wide, and Mark awkwardly cleared his throat. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Are you  _ crazy _ ?” Jeno chided. “You can’t do that sort of stuff.”

“I didn’t know?” Mark meekly replied with a sheepish smile. “Is it enough for me to, like, not be able to do magic?”

Jeno sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, probably. The spirits are the only ones known to be able to mess with magic and stuff. So if you insulted magic, they probably were able to sense it or something, and made sure you wouldn’t gain any of the magic from the pathway.”

“They can do that?”

“Mark,” Jeno said, “the spirits can do literally anything. They’re all-powerful. I mean, they practically  _ created _ magic along with the realm itself.”

Mark swallowed. “Oh. I guess that does make a lot of sense, then.”

But truthfully, he felt that there was something wrong with their theory. They were missing  _ something _ , but he had no idea what. It was a gut feeling, but when the feeling was about something so unfamiliar, he wasn’t sure if he could even rely on such a hunch.

“For now, just be careful and try to fit in. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that stuff. You can never be too careful here,” Jaemin told them. 

Renjun was quick to nod in agreement. “Don’t make yourself a target in a place like Manyeoni, when you have bootlickers hiding in the shadows of every street corner.” 

Jeno scowled at the phrase, but sighed and let his shoulders drop in defeat. “Be careful,” he echoed.

“But yeah, like what Jeno said, don’t insult spirits here,” Jaemin added. “I don’t know much about how to anger the spirits honestly, since the leaders of the Fae and the more advanced ceremonial witches are really the only people that can have some sort of contact with them. But disrespecting magic is directly disrespecting them, which already puts you on thin ice.”

“I will,” Mark promised. He didn’t have to look over at Donghyuck to know he was beaming, the way he did whenever he was proven right about something. Mark wouldn’t give Donghyuck that satisfaction. 

“We’re almost there, let’s keep going?” Renjun was about to turn away to continue walking when Donghyuck obnoxiously coughed, getting Renjun’s attention again.

“Are you two done being awkward?” Donghyuck asked point-blank, jabbing a finger at Jeno and Renjun. The two looked at each other, then nodded. A smile made its way onto Jeno’s lips, and Renjun was quick to reciprocate it. Out of Mark’s peripheral, he saw Jaemin’s shoulders drop in relief.

✨

Manyeoni wasn’t the Seoul or New York Mark had pictured when everyone had mentioned the grand capital of the magic realm. It was pleasant, sprawling buildings and small stores scattered throughout the nature-dominated city. The sheer amount of greenspace was surprising, but considering how important nature was to magic and the realm itself, it made sense. 

Donghyuck dragged them to a clothing store first, proclaiming that “there were only so many pieces of clothing I’m willing to sacrifice for Mark” while gesturing down at Mark’s jeans, which were a bit short on Mark’s lanky limbs. Mark had indignantly jabbed him in the side for that comment.

Really, Mark was only at Manyeoni to see how expensive the clothes were so he could return there later, when he had actual money to spend it on. Based on the coin pouches the other four boys had, it was obvious his paper human money would be useless.

The racks were lined with clothes similar to the ones the others were wearing, flared pants and ruffled shirts that he really wished stayed behind in old magazines and Nickelodeon red carpet pictures. At least all of Donghyuck's clothes seemed relatively normal in comparison, hoodies and jeans that were similar to clothes he had back at home. Honestly, if it were up to him, he'd stay in the same hoodie for as long as he could, but it was already giving up on him, so whatever they could find would have to do.

"I think you'd look good in this." Mark looked up to see Donghyuck holding up cheetah-print pants, and he gagged. "Super high fashion."

"Shove it up your ass."

Donghyuck cocked a brow suggestively before he couldn't keep up his façade anymore and began to cackle. "I think it would bring out your ass, actually."

Mark choked on air and elbowed Donghyuck, which was clearly not the right reaction considering it only increased the volume of his laughter. Jeno shot them a mildly concerned glance from where he, Renjun, and Jaemin were huddled together in the back of the store. Mark elbowed Donghyuck again with more intensity before giving Jeno a thumbs-up, hoping his attempt at a reassuring smile didn't come off as a grimace.

By the time Mark turned back to Donghyuck, Donghyuck had already vanished into another aisle. Before he could try to figure out where Donghyuck had gone, he suddenly reappeared to heap a pile of clothing into Mark's arms. He patted Mark's head and skipped away, leaving Mark to follow him like a lost puppy. Donghyuck was always the better dressed one of the two of them, and the pile in his hands didn't seem to have any animal prints or weird ruffled shirts, so he let Donghyuck do whatever he wanted.

Within a few minutes, the pile began to tower closer to neck-level, and a sudden bout of nerves overtook Mark as he realized the noticeable lack of money needed to pay for everything Donghyuck had picked out for him.

"Hyuck,” he called out from behind the stack of clothes. Donghyuck turned towards him from down the aisle, a jean jacket already half-off the hanger in his hands. "Dude, I can’t afford this. I literally don’t have money.”

“I do,” Donghyuck replied brightly, resuming tugging the jacket off of the hanger.

Mark frowned. If there was anything growing up in an asian household taught, it was that you never allowed anyone to pay for you, even if it was your best friend. And  _ especially _ not without a fight. “Hyuck—”

“You’re broke, I’m not. Let me buy this for you.”

“No, what? I’ll make money somehow and pay for it myself later.” Mark was totally bluffing. He had no idea how the fuck he could make money in a place like this.. Donghyuck snorted, obviously knowing Mark was lying.

“No, no,” Jeno suddenly said from behind them before Donghyuck could reply, “it’s on me.” When they both turned to look at him, he shrugged. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Jeno, are you sure? I promise I’ll be okay with buying it later.” Mark knew Jeno was probably offering out of either pity or some sort of apology, but he had the decency to not voice that outloud. Jeno probably knew Mark knew, anyways.

“Yeah, but your hoodie won’t be.” He smiled, and Mark ducked his head in resignation.

“I’ll pay you back,” he promised. 

Jeno shook his head. “You don’t need to. Consider this a gift.”

It was hard to tell if Jeno was being authentic, but Mark wasn’t exactly in a position to argue. Not with Jeno, at least. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Jeno kept a rather large distance between him and Mark the entire time, but Mark didn’t comment on it.

Once they had paid for the clothing — the sheer amount of gold Jeno had handed the salesperson could sell for thousands at any pawn shop — Donghyuck had eyed the bags in his hands, considering something. After Mark, Donghyuck, and Jeno left the store, Donghyuck set down the bags, then ran back in with the vague explanation that he needed to find Renjun, who had disappeared with Jaemin ten minutes prior.

Donghyuck emerged a minute later, dragging Renjun by the wrist, Jaemin trailing after him with a bag of his own. When he saw Mark’s look of confusion, he quickly clarified, “There’s a way to send these bags back to the house. Renjun’s the best at it and makes sure nothing gets lost in transit.” He gave a pointed look to Jeno, who glanced the other way and sheepishly rubbed the nape of his neck.

Renjun rolled his eyes but got his wand out of his pocket. “You know you could figure out how to do this, too. It’s not that hard.”

Donghyuck ignored him, instead sifting through one of the bags until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a baby blue sweatshirt, then smiled brightly at Renjun. “Can you do it, Junnie?”

Renjun sighed, but waved his wand at the bags and mumbled something under his breath. In an instance, the bags disappeared. He looked expectantly up at Donghyuck, who clapped his hands in exaggerated applause.

“Next store?” Renjun asked, sticking his wand back into his pocket.

Jeno was quick to nod. “I need to pick some things for a new elixir.”

The three of them set off towards a storefront at the opposite end of the street. As Mark was about to follow them, Donghyuck suddenly nudged Mark.

“Wear it!” Donghyuck prompted him, thrusting the sweatshirt towards Mark.

“Won’t I get in trouble for public indecency?” Mark asked as he looked down at his current sweatshirt, which was the only article of clothing covering his top half. It was the sweatshirt he arrived in, and there was a tear on his right sleeve by his hand. Based on the fraying strings, he wasn’t sure how much longer the cloth would hold up.

“Not if no one sees. So go!” Donghyuck nudged Mark’s arm. “Strip!”

Mark flushed and fidgeted with his sleeve. He’d always been awful at refusing Donghyuck, and especially considering how worn-down his current sweatshirt was, it would be nice to finally wear something clean and new. With a sigh, he conceded and pulled off his sweatshirt. He grabbed the new sweatshirt from Donghyuck's hands, refusing to meet Donghyuck's eyes. They'd changed in front of each other before, sure, but there was something especially embarrassing about changing in the middle of a public area  _ and _ in front of Donghyuck.

Once he'd finally pulled over the new sweatshirt, Donghyuck gave him a once-over and hummed contently. "Good color on you." He then linked his hand with Mark's and took off towards where Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun were.

If Mark was able to fool himself, he could believe that this was just a normal gathering of friends, similar to the times he and Donghyuck would shop at the mall Donghyuck loved. But then something would happen, like Renjun whisking away their bags to Jeno’s house with a flick of his wand, or Jaemin tilting an overhanging tree branch just enough to shield the five of them from the scorching sun, and Mark would be reminded that no matter what he believed, the magic realm was completely different than the human realm.

The five of them were bouncing between stores at lightning speed, courtesy of Jaemin and Donghyuck, who were practically sprinting through the stores and leaving by the time Mark had looked at a single item the store was selling. It was by the fourth store that Mark had finally given up on trying to keep up with them. He had tapped Renjun on the shoulder, who was watching Jaemin, Donghyuck, and Jeno run through the botany store with an amused smile, and told him he was going to go outside for a bit.

Renjun had nodded, reminding him not to "wander too far, or else it'll be tough to find your short ass." Mark opted against pointing out that Renjun was a solid few centimeters shorter than him and instead gave him a thumbs-up before leaving the store. The winding streets of Manyeoni created plenty of opportunities to take a wrong turn; while it wasn't a congested city, it was large enough to get hopelessly lost in.

Mark paced down the street, taking in his surroundings. Manyeoni was colorful, brightly-decorated storefronts advertising goods that Mark had never even  _ heard _ of in his wildest dreams. (Seriously, what even  _ was _ a tandin claw? A moonlight ring? He had to admit the latter sounded nice, but the shopkeeper shooed him away as soon as Mark awkwardly stuttered out that he wasn’t an elemental witch, so he didn’t even get a good look at the jewel.)

Once he reached the end, he took a left, following the cobblestone road and the slow flow of people. At the end of that road was an enormous marble fountain, standing out against the more rustic shops surrounding it. Entranced, Mark jogged up to it, pushing Renjun's warning to the back of his mind.

On the fountain, there was a bronze plaque. Upon closer inspection, Mark saw that the engraved letters spelled out, "Dedicated to the victims of the Chaemin Cho massacre. May the spirits watch over them."

Mark took a step back from the memorial, suddenly feeling too invasive for comfort as he remembered the way Jisung's hands had shook when Chenle had vaguely mentioned the massacre, the way Renjun had fidgeted just a bit too much for it to be normal. 

The date inscribed on the plaque was from 15 years prior. They all must’ve been young then, no more than four years old. Mark couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like to lose a family member in such a horrific way. What was it like for people like Jisung, who lost both of his parents?

He sent out a silent prayer to the victims, the way his mother taught him back when they would go to church every Sunday. He then stared down at his feet and walked around the memorial, not daring to look up at it again.

Seeing such a memorial was unnerving, almost as if it was confirming everything Chenle, Jeno, Renjun, and Jaemin had alluded to in the past few days. It made sense why the others were so apprehensive about his and Donghyuck’s sudden appearance in the magic realm. He couldn’t fault Jeno for his reaction, not when someone — either a witch or, somehow, a  _ human _ — had clearly devastated the whole city, if not the entire realm.

He chewed on his bottom lip. Maybe Jeno had a point. 

When he finally looked up from the ground, he was facing a quaint bookstore, red-painted wood making up the storefront.  _ Hyerin Books,  _ the sign read. It looked like a nice place to stay for a bit and recollect his bearings. Mark pushed the door open and entered the store. It smelled like old leather and freshly-brewed tea, homely.

There was a single man behind the counter, silently reading a book. When he noticed Mark’s presence, he looked up at Mark. He smiled cordially before the smile suddenly slipped off his face, replaced by furrowed brows and a small frown. Mark hesitantly took a few steps closer to the man.

The man tilted his head, studying Mark with pursed lips. “Flickering baby blue,” he murmured, so quiet it was almost inaudible.

“Oh, are you talking about the hoodie?” Mark asked, relieved that the man only seemed interested in that. “My friend got it for me.”

The man clicked his tongue, inspecting Mark for another second before straightening. Mark blinked, and suddenly the smile from earlier reappeared on the man’s lips, unwavering. He placed a ribbon in between the pages he was reading and quietly closed the book. "Welcome to Hyerin Books. What can I do for you today?" 

"I-I wasn't really looking for anything," Mark said. He finally approached the counter, hoping to make conversation with the man to take his mind off of things. He surveyed the counter, which was mostly covered with neatly stacked books, and he noticed there was a crystal ball at the far end, milky white, just like the one he had seen in Jeno's house.

"Well, you're welcome to read something, if you'd like." The man gestured around him towards the many bookshelves, each filled to the brim with books of all different colors and sizes.

"Are they magic books?" Mark blurted out, then winced at how conspicuous his question was.

The man merely looked amused by the question. "Not all of them are spellbooks, if that's what you're asking." He peered closer at Mark, then asked, "You remind me of the person my cousin told me about. Mark, is it?"

Mark shoulders tensed. "So are you Doyoung?" Mark asked, his voice painfully strained. Had Jeno let it slip that Mark was a human? His stomach knotted as he swallowed, not daring to look Doyoung in the eyes. 

Doyoung simply smiled, and Mark was once struck by how much Doyoung reminded him of Jaehyun. "I am. Did Jeno tell you about me?"

"I'm kind-of living in your house, so…” Mark trailed off, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants. It didn’t seem that Doyoung suspected anything. Mark breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"So I've heard. I knew you all were coming, but it looks like you got separated from them. I’ll let Jeno know you’re here, ” Doyoung walked over to the crystal ball and tapped on it while murmuring some words that Mark couldn’t make out. It reminded him of when Jeno had used the crystal ball to communicate with Doyoung the night before.

Once Jeno’s figure appeared in the sphere, Doyoung said, “Hey, Jen. I’m at the bookstore with Mark.”

Jeno nodded. “Good, okay. We were about to go looking for him. We’ll be there in a bit.”

Doyoung wrinkled his nose. “Please don’t bring your entire group in, you’re all too loud for me.”

Jeno barked out a laugh. “Fair enough, me and Hyuck will grab him quietly so we don’t mess up your  _ atmosphere _ .” 

Doyoung scowled, but his expression immediately softened at Jeno’s giggles. “See you soon, Jen.”

“See you!” There was silence, and then— “Guys! Get out here!” Jeno yelled, receiving a few incoherent complaints in reply.

“He always forgets to stop the audio spell,” Doyoung fondly mumbled to himself. He whispered a few words and Jeno’s reflection disappeared, along with his voice.

“Why do you use that?” Mark asked, pointing to the crystal ball, which was now fading back into its usual opaque white color. “Why don’t you just use a phone?” 

Doyoung pursed his lips. “Everyone’s a bit divided between human and magic technology on things besides necessities. I just prefer to use this for communication because it’s what my mother did.”

Mark furrowed his brows. That was different from what Jaemin had said, but he supposed Doyoung would know his own motivations better than Jaemin.

“Aren’t you the head of the Magic Council or something?” Mark asked. He knew the answer already, but he was curious to know why the head of an important system was behind the counter of a bookstore.

“I am,” Doyoung said with a smile. “This is just a side job I enjoy. You won’t see me much because I either stay in the council building or leave the house too early for you all to see me.”

Mark nodded. A part of him felt relieved that he wouldn’t be in as much danger of being discovered, but another part of him was disappointed he wouldn’t see Doyoung much. Despite only knowing him for a few minutes, Doyoung’s company was quite comforting, his dulcet tone providing a feeling of familiarity in such an unfamiliar place.

“What type of witch are you?” Mark asked, hoping the question wasn’t intrusive. He wasn’t sure what was considered ‘common courtesy’ in this world, something that would probably be important to know. Oops. 

“Ceremonial,” Doyoung easily replied as he reached for a steeping cup of tea that was hidden behind one of the many stacks of books. 

“So like Jeno?”

"Jeno and I are descended from the longest line of ceremonial witches in the realm,” Doyoung explained with a small sip from his porcelain cup. “My mother was considered one of the greatest of her time. This bookstore was named after her actually, since it was originally hers."

"So magic is hereditary?" Mark asked, his eyes widening. He then cursed under his breath; that was probably common knowledge here. 

Doyoung gave him a strange look and bit his lip as if he was considering something.

"Yes," he finally said, "if you have at least one parent that's part of the magic world, you're guaranteed to be able to perform magic."

And then, the pieces began to fall into place. Why Donghyuck could do magic, while Mark couldn't.

Taeyong could do magic.

So if Taeyong was really Donghyuck’s brother, and if they both could do magic, it wasn’t a coincidence or an accident. It was hereditary, and that meant at least one of Donghyuck's parents could perform magic.

The door suddenly swung open, and Mark looked behind him to see Jeno and Donghyuck stepping into the bookstore. Jeno gave Doyoung an enthusiastic wave and bounded up to the counter, while Donghyuck came up to Mark and absent-midedly linked their pinkies together.

“Everything good?” Donghyuck whispered as Jeno and Doyoung chatted in front of them.

“He doesn’t know, Jeno didn’t tell him anything.” 

Donghyuck smiled. “Told you. We can trust him.” He bumped his shoulder against Mark’s, then they both looked up when Doyoung cleared his throat.

Doyoung’s gaze flickered between him and Donghyuck in understanding, before he finally said, "Good to see you, Donghyuck.” 

Donghyuck beamed. "Hi, Doie," he trilled cheerfully. "I'm going to steal Mark from you, if that's okay."

Doyoung gave him a wave of his wrist in reply. "No worries. And Mark?"

Mark looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You're always welcome here to come and talk, even if you just need me to explain something. I'm always here on weekends, or whenever I can sneak out of the council." He gave Mark a discreet wink.

Mark smiled. "I'll probably take you up on that offer."

Doyoung opened the book he was reading earlier, removing the bookmark from the page he was previously on. "Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doyoung <3


	6. Antipathy is the Devil's Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems that wherever Donghyuck is, the world follows. Mark isn't sure how long he'll keep following, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy hope yall r doing well!  
> updates will hopefully be quicker since im attepting to do nanowrimo w this fic<3  
> as always, enjoy!

It was four days after Mark had arrived in the magic realm when he finally unpacked the backpack he had brought along with him. He had let the black bag sit in the corner of Donghyuck’s room, only occasionally poking through it to find things like a charger or his waterbottle. 

He had emerged from his shower earlier that day to discover Donghyuck had already disappeared to train with Renjun, Jisung, and Chenle. Jaemin and Jeno had gone into Manyeoni again to pick up some spell-book, so Mark was alone with nothing better to do. Sorting through the little he had brought with him was long overdue, anyways.

He picked up the backpack and set it down, before deciding otherwise and instead turning it upside-down to dump the contents on the bed. Oh, Donghyuck was going to _kill_ him if he found out Mark was doing this on his nice, freshly washed sheets, but what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

Luckily, there wasn’t much. In his haste, Mark had barely brought anything, so it was easy to sort through it all. He tossed his wallet in the bedside table drawer and placed the cups of ramen on top of one of the shelves, right next to where he had placed Donghyuck’s witchcraft book the day he arrived. 

Buried at the very bottom of the pile was a pen and his notebook.

He flipped through it, watching as the stanzas of lyrics slowly gave way to empty pages, pages he knew he once filled up with stories of Donghyuck, only for them to vanish.

He clicked his pen and wrote a single word, just to test if it would disappear.

_Donghyuck_

He waited a beat, staring at the word in silence, too scared to blink in fear that when he opened his eyes a split-second later, it would disappear. 

He didn’t know how long had passed. Maybe a minute, maybe an hour, maybe more. But the word stayed, the ink resolutely imprinted into the page as if it had been there for decades.

He tentatively traced the word with his finger.

_Donghyuck_

Mark closed it, his hands shaking the slightest bit. He slowly stepped away to towel off his hair, his movements slow and drawn-out.

When he returned, the word was still there.

An incredulous laugh bubbled in his throat as he shakily smiled down at the page. It seemed that wherever Donghyuck was, the world would follow. He gripped the book in one hand and the pen in the other, and set out to the river.

It wasn’t hard to find Donghyuck, Renjun, Jisung, and Chenle. Mark had been to the river several times a day since he had first arrived; he had memorized the crunch of fallen twigs underneath his feet, the fork in the path where he had to follow along the left side. The four of them made a loud quartet as well; it was usually mainly caused by Donghyuck and Chenle, and the two would rile up Renjun and Jisung. Sure enough, once he got closer, he was able to hear hear Chenle’s rambunctious laughter and Donghyuck’s shrieked curses. After stepping into the clearing, he was able to see what exactly had elicited such reactions.

Donghyuck was aiming a stream of water at Jisung, who was deflecting it with some sort of wind-shield he was creating with the circular-motion of his hands. The water dispersed into droplets once it made contact with the shield, flying out behind Jisung but never once touching his perfectly dry body. After a few minutes, Donghyuck’s stamina gave way, and he groaned loudly and stooped over while Jisung giggled triumphantly.

Renjun was the first to notice Mark. He raised a hand in greeting and smiled. “Hey, Mark!”

Donghyuck perked up and looked over. “Mark!” He scrambled towards Mark and dragged him further into the clearing. Jisung and Chenle both smiled in greeting, the latter waving at him with the vine he was playing with.

“I learned this new move from the spellbook we bought a few days ago!” Donghyuck told him. Mark watched as Donghyuck drew another large stream of water with both hands and aimed it at Chenle in a sudden gush of water. Chenle screamed before shrinking into his smaller form, the vine lying where he once was. Donghyuck let out a squeak of panic as the water shot forward, and dropped his hand towards the ground, letting the water fall and soak the grass.

“He’s really powerful,” someone chirped from next to Mark’s ear, and Mark spun around to see Chenle grinning at him. He laughed brightly and skipped away to where Renjun was kneeling, hovering over a patch of moss.

“It’s true,” Jisung said, not looking up from his splayed-out hands. He was spinning them counter-clockwise against each other, as if creating something within the centimeters of space between them. There was an opal-like necklace dangling around his neck, but the inside of the gem was swirling together in a myriad of shimmering colors. “He’s ready to start branching out into other parts of the elemental class.”

“Ji’s going to start teaching me how to work alongside wind and air,” Donghyuck told Mark, his arms flying around eagerly. “So I can work on both water and wind!”

Mark smiled. Donghyuck’s excitement was contagious. “As long as you’re staying safe.” He knew he was probably being overbearing, but the last thing he wanted was Donghyuck getting hurt, especially in a place like this.

Donghyuck waved off his concern. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” He then turned back towards Jisung, who was still focused on what seemed a whirlwind between his hands. “Ji!” By the time Jisung looked up, Donghyuck was already hurling another blast of water at it, strong enough to break through the whirlwind Jisung had been making.

“Oh shit!” Jisung laughed, flicking a few soaked strands of hair away from his eyes. “That was your most powerful one yet!”

“Even more powerful than when I tried with the earrings earlier?” Donghyuck asked as he dug through his pocket for something. He held up a small silver earring with a light blue gem dangling from the stud, inspecting it for a moment before looking back at Jisung. 

“Yeah, tons! Usually those types of jewelry amplifies everyone’s magic, but I guess that’s not the case with you.” 

Donghyuck shrugged and pocketed the earring again. He then turned to Mark. “Do you want to try some stuff out?” His eyes were sparkling in the way that he knew would render Mark incapable of saying no, but there was one glaringly-obvious issue with that.

“I kinda can’t."

“You can!” Renjun chirped, turning away from Chenle to interrupt in their conversation. During that split second, Chenle nailed him in the abdomen with a thick clump of vines and Renjun doubled over, wheezing, while Chenle burst into rambunctious laughter.

Renjun beckoned Jisung over with the one hand not clutching his torso. Jisung eyed Chene warily for a moment, as if anticipating Chenle to attack him too. Chenle snorted and took a step back, raising his hands in surrender. Taking that as a sign of peace, Jisung crossed the remaining distance between them.

Renjun told him something, loud enough that Chenle could hear as well, based on the way his eyes widened in surprise as he attempted to subtly glance in Mark’s direction before returning looking back at Renjun.

Jisung looked apprehensive for a moment, gaze shifting up to Chenle. Chenle nodded and Jisung let out a breath, noticeably more relaxed. “Give me a second!” He called out so Mark and Donghyuck could hear. He waved two fingers at Mark, then vanished into thin air.

As soon as he disappeared, Renjun straightened and with a flick of his wand and a beam of light, threw Chenle into the river. As Chenle screamed out a “ _fuck_ , it’s cold!” Renjun nonchalantly blew on the tips of his wand with a sly grin, not casting a single glance towards Chenle’s floundering figure.

Mark gulped and looked back at where Jisung had once stood. “Is he gonna elaborate?” When he didn’t receive a reply, he glanced over to see Donghyuck counting down from three on his fingers, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. When he reached one, there was an audible _pop_ , and Jisung reappeared a few feet in front of them, clutching something in his hand. 

“He’s one of the best at teleporting,” Donghyuck said smugly, and Jisung’s cheeks went red.

“I guess I’m decent,” he mumbled, refusing to meet Donghyuck’s eyes. “But, uh,” he jogged over to Mark, “Ta da!”

Mark inspected the strange object that Jisung had just shoved into his hand. “This looks like a huge wooden crowbar.”

Jisung glowered. “It’s a _staff.”_

“I can’t use a magic staff, Jis—”

“‘No, this doesn’t require any magic to use!” Jisung was bouncing on the balls of his feet, in what seemed to be a mixture of excitement and nervousness. “At least, I’m pretty sure. Renjun also said that.”

Mark tightened his grip on the staff, the wood rough to the touch. “I mean—”

“Just try it!” Renjun called out, hands cupped around his mouth. “Don’t be a pussy!”

Mark snorted and turned to look at Donghyuck. “Did you teach him that?”

“Guilty as charged,” Donghyuck replied, not looking the slightest bit guilty.

“Well, okay, is there a, like,” Mark cleared his throat,” an instruction manual or anything.”

Donghyuck sighed, louder and more drawn-out than necessary. “You really are a human.”

Mark blinked at him. “So are you?”

“Yeah, but at least I don’t ask for some Ikea-type manual?”

“Ikea?” Jisung parroted, his eyes going wide. “What’s that?”

“Heaven,” was Mark’s immediate response. God, he missed the human world. And Ikeas.

“Good meatballs,” Donghyuck chimed in. “Mark just likes it because you can waste time there spinning on all of the office chairs.”

Donghyuck wasn’t exactly wrong, but it definitely wasn’t the only reason Mark loved his and Donghyuck’s monthly trips to Ikea. It was a nice way to relax and spend time together, even if it wasn’t in the way Mark would’ve wanted. It was good enough, at least.

“Oh.” Jisung smiled, obviously not really understanding but not having the heart to say so either. “Cool. Well, uh, the way I used the staff when I first started out was to just think about what you want to accomplish and then sorta channel your energy through the staff so it explodes out of here,” he tapped the curved end of the staff. “It takes a few tries, especially if you don’t know what type of witch you are, but once you get it to work, it really feels completely natural. It’s like, the staff can create magic for you.”

“Oh.” Mark tapped a finger against the staff, half-expecting it to expand like something of a sci-fi movie. When it didn't, much to his disappointment, he just said, “Okay. So I just, like, point this somewhere?”

“Yeah, try it out.”

Mark swung the staff around, almost clocking Jisung in the shoulder and Donghyuck in the head.

“You’re trying to do magic, not _kill_ us,” Donghyuck huffed. He grabbed the shaft of the staff, nearly tearing it out of Mark's grasp with his enthusiasm.

“Let’s see if you can do celestial magic with this.” He wrenched the staff upwards towards the sky, and Mark felt his shoulder joint crack at the sudden movement. He had no idea how Donghyuck could stand looking in the general direction of the sun, because once he made eye contact with one of the sunbeams, he immediately looked away, trying to blink away the spots dancing behind his eyes. They stayed like that for a bit, Donghyuck occasionally jabbing the staff further towards the sun, until he finally gave up.

“Jisung, your staff is broken.” 

Jisung shrugged. “Yeah, then I’m not sure, then. Maybe ask Jeno or Doyoung about it since it is technically Doyoung’s staff.”

Donghyuck sighed. “Damn, the celestial class is really cool. Would’ve been nice if you could do celestial magic.” He shot a look towards Renjun, who was too focused on the staff to notice. “Don’t tell him I said that. It’s gonna inflate his ego tenfold.”

Donghyuck finally let go of the staff, the previously-cold wood now pleasantly warm. Mark kept his hand wrapped around it, even as Donghyuck took a step away from him and towards Jisung. “Can we try out wind now?” He asked Jisung.

Jisung nodded and guided Donghyuck towards the opposite end of the river, where Chenle was currently lying in the sun in a poor attempt to dry out his sopping clothes. As Jisung began to explain how to connect with wind magic, Mark adjusted the staff in his hands, a zip of energy coursing through his veins at the minute movement. He looked at the curved tip, not sure if he was only imagining the way the river rippled just a bit more than before. 

The staff hummed with energy, and Mark quickly placed it down, unsure of what it would do. He wrinkled his nose at the wooden shaft; it would serve better as a weapon than a ‘magical staff.’

He glanced back at Jisung and Donghyuck, who had both fallen silent. Donghyuck’s eyes were closed, his fingers spread while Jisung talked, but on the occasion, his concentration would break and his eyes would snap open as he doubled over laughing at something Jisung had said.

It was almost startling to see how well Donghyuck fit into a place like this.

In the years he had known Donghyuck, he had never seen Donghyuck look so free, so happy with himself and the world around him. He often admitted to being frustrated with the way his life felt.

“I was meant for more,” he would insist. “I’m meant to be more somewhere else.” Donghyuck was larger-than-life, a force to be reckoned with. Mark had always known that, even from the first day Donghyuck stumbled into his life, sticky hands clutching honeysuckle blossoms.

“I mean, Korea isn’t that bad. There’s so much to do here,” Mark had pointed out. It was selfish, but he couldn’t imagine a world without Donghyuck. He was a constant in Mark’s life, a source of stability. Donghyuck had merely squinted at him, then shrugged half-heartedly before returning to his book. 

But now, Mark could see what Donghyuck meant. Donghyuck was made for a fantasy world, one with magic and witches and everything he’d ever dreamed of. He was meant to do magic beyond what he could learn in a dusty old book, and here, he was not only able to harness that gift, but share it as well.

Mark’s heart ached, for the bright-eyed boy in front of him, the world providing him a type of happiness that Mark never could, and for the part of him that selfishly wished he could return to the human realm with Donghyuck by his side. Return back to normal, before they had been whisked away into a world full of magic. Return back to normal, just for a day.

For now, the closest he could get to normal was Donghyuck. Sure, he was doing magic now, among other things it seemed, but he was a constant here. His smile, his laugh, his mere presence, was comfort and warmth.

So for now, Mark would try to be okay.

He couldn’t help but wish he could immortalize this scene, a permanent reminder of what Donghyuck looked like when he was truly happy and at ease. 

He didn’t have a proper camera — his phone was back in his room, safely stowed away from prying eyes — nor did he have the ability to draw. But he had a notebook and a pen and an overwhelming amount of thoughts ricocheting in his head. 

Mark settled underneath a tree and began to write.

✨

“In the elemental class, water magic is the easiest to start on, apparently,” Donghyuck said as a bit of water in his hands shifted into different shapes. They were more complicated than earlier, and a few seemed to move without Donghyuck’s help. “Easiest to work alongside.”

Mark watched him play with the water and listened as Donghyuck recounted what Renjun and Jisung had told him earlier that day during training. The two, along with Chenle, had already gone home for the day, but Donghyuck had insisted on staying, which meant Mark would stay with him until whenever Donghyuck decided he was ready to go. 

“It’s also super important!” Donghyuck smiled as he shaped the blob of water into a sphere, then tossed it between his hands. “It’s the basis of creation! Basically every living thing has water and needs water. It’s all about giving.” With that, Donghyuck tossed the sphere of water onto the roots of a nearby tree, and in silence, they watched as the tree gratefully soaked up the water. 

Donghyuck smiled before drawing another stream of water from the river and molding it into a second sphere, this one larger than the last. 

“It also works best with wind. It’s easy to couple the two.”

This time, the sphere of water lingered in the air for longer before landing in Donghyuck’s other hand, almost as if traveling in slow-motion. Each toss resulted in the ball of water traveling higher and higher, until it got too high for Donghyuck to see. With a flick of his wrist, the ball of water came hurtling back down, splattering on the grass near Donghyuck’s feet.

“I have to admit, I’m excited for fire,” Donghyuck said, his hand twisting in the air, grasping at nothing, “but it’s the most dangerous out of the four specialities, since fire is inherently destructive. We have to be careful about working with elements the way they’re intended, but we also have to be careful about not destroying something we didn’t create, so fire is tricky like that.”

Mark’s eyes widened. He let his gaze sweep across the densely wooded forest on the other side of the river. “Is that why you guys never practice _in_ the forest itself?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Donghyuck smiled, satisfied. “Don’t want to risk harming any of the wildlife or plants.”

“What happens if you do? Like destroy something you didn’t create, or use the elements incorrectly?”

“You risk angering the spirits.” Donghyuck’s tone turned serious. “And I mean _genuinely_ angering them. They created this realm as a solace for magic users, and if you hurt the realm by disrupting the balance…” he paused, then said, “it’s not good. No one’s ever hurt the realm to the point for the spirits to intervene, at least no one still alive.”

Mark swallowed. “So the realm is like its own entity?” 

“In a way, yes. The fae focus more on the care of the realm, which is why they have nature-based magic, but witches co-exist with the realm, instead of trying to control it. We work with the elements, or for more advanced ceremonial witches, the actual spirits.”

Donghyuck took off his shoes and sat down, dipping his feet into the river. He sank his hands into the muddy riverbank, swirling a finger into the ground to create elaborate symbols. “Ji said he’s been learning a lot of the fire speciality recently, so we’re going to learn together once we’re both ready. In the meantime, I’m going to keep working on wind and start working on the ground speciality. I’ve been reading a bit about it.”

“So you’re powerful enough to go through all of these specialities, huh?”

Donghyuck looked up from the riverbank and beamed. “Ji and Jun were both really surprised by that. Said it wasn’t normal for someone who had their magic repressed for so long.”

It definitely _couldn't_ be normal. Donghyuck had been in the realm for less than two weeks, yet he was already working on mastering the entire elemental class. Maybe it was because one of his parents was a witch, a theory that’d been lingering in his mind since he last talked to Doyoung. It would explain why Donghyuck seemed so comfortable performing magic.

Comfortable. He seemed more comfortable here than even back at home, in the human world. 

Even though Mark knew he would try to support whatever Donghyuck’s decision was, he couldn’t help but wonder: would Donghyuck even come back to the human realm if he had the choice? Years from now, would Donghyuck still be here, living among witches and magic, instead of in their little spot in the outskirts of Seoul?

The place they’d grown up in together.

The place Mark was leaving behind in just a couple of months.

Mark felt his stomach knot together, the thoughts of the future and past all blending together into a twisted sort of song, dissonance ringing out in every chord. He smiled at Donghyuck anyways. “I’m happy for you, you’re doing really well.” He paused for a second, then said, “I think part of the reason you’re able to be so powerful is because one of your parents is a witch. Probably a powerful witch, at that.”

Donghyuck blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“Well, Doyoung’s a ceremonial witch, and Jeno is too,” Mark explained, “Do you see the pattern? It’s why you have magic in the first place; it’s hereditary.”

Donghyuck shook his head and fidgeted with his hands, covering his skin with mud. If he noticed, he didn’t seem to care. “That’s not related. Everyone on the magical council is required to have some kind of speciality in the ceremonial class, even if it’s not their base.”

“No, Hyuck, Doyoung told me _specifically_ that he and Jeno are descended from a long line of ceremonial witches. It has to be hereditary for you, too. It explains why I didn’t get magic from the creek and why you’re already so strong.”

“Well, my dad isn’t really huge on magic,” Donghyuck said quietly, finally considering what Mark had said. “He always would get annoyed when I spent too much time trying out magic stuff. Said it only brought “bad things” or whatever.”

“Then if you’re so sure it’s not your dad that’s some kind of witch, it’s got to be your mom.” Mark nodded to himself, satisfied with the assumption. “You don’t remember anything about her, right?”

Donghyuck scoffed. “She died when I was born, so obviously, no.”

Mark thought back to when he and Taeyong had talked, and when Taeyong had mentioned their mother, who seemed to be very much alive when Donghyuck was born, but he supposed it wasn’t his place to tell. Not yet. 

“There’s still the possibility she was a witch, though,” Mark said instead.

Donghyuck pursed his lips. “But my dad met her when he was in college. Like, what was a _witch_ doing in the middle of Seoul?”

“Same reason as you, I suppose,” Mark said, and _wow_ it was strange to refer to your best friend as a _witch._ “The pathways closed before she could get in or something.” 

“I… guess,” Donghyuck said slowly. “Do you think my dad knew?”

Mark shrugged half-heartedly. “Maybe? He never really seemed surprised by your interest in magic.”

“He always seemed sort-of upset by it, though.” Donghyuck fell silent for a beat. “He never said anything besides just the usual nagging that parents do about strange hobbies, but he would get pretty snappy and tense when I brought up magic too much. It’s just weird that he forgot about me, I guess. I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“I’m assuming you don’t know why only certain people remembered you when you disappeared?” 

“I thought it was a family thing, but my dad forgot about me while Taeyong remembered and _you_ remembered, so that doesn’t make sense.” Donghyuck sighed, bending down to wash his hands with the water of the river. Once they were clean, he leaned back onto the grass, slinging an arm over his face. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter now, does it? We’re here, I can do magic, and it’s fine. It’s going alright.”

“But aren’t you curious?” Mark asked, leaning forward. “About what’s going on here and at home? About the reason behind your magic?”

“I guess, but there’s no point in going poking around for answers, especially in a place like this. It’s great that you were able to figure out some things, really, but does it really matter?” Donghyuck let his hand flop to his side, blinking up at the sunset painting the sky. “As long as we’re safe and no one’s after us trying to send us back, then we’re fine.”

Mark frowned, the twisting in his gut from earlier returning, full-force. “Are you—are you not planning to go back?”

Donghyuck’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, his tongue poking in his cheek. “I’m not sure, Mark.”

Mark’s heart dropped into his stomach. Donghyuck was only confirming what he had suspected, and hearing the words himself sent a whole new wave of anxiety coursing through his body. 

“I think going back home would be good for the both of us.” The words tumbled out of his mouth too quickly for him to stop them, and the impact was immediate.

Donghyuck froze. 

Mark slumped against the tree behind him, looking at Donghyuck, silently pleading for him to look back. Donghyuck refused to meet his gaze, instead staring down at his fingers. 

“Donghyuck—”

“I’m—” Donghyuck stood up and brushed himself off. “I’m gonna go. I’ll see you later.”

Mark dropped his head into his hands, a wave of nausea overtaking him as the sound of Donghyuck’s footsteps faded away. 

He couldn’t make Donghyuck’s decisions for him. He knew Donghyuck loved it here, but he didn’t want to lose Donghyuck. But if he could convince Donghyuck to leave, shouldn’t he?

Mark had always been the indecisive one. Never knowing what station to turn the well-worn knob of his car’s radio, or what cartons of berries would be the best to pick from the tables at the farmers market. He let others make the choices for him, and most of the time, that person was Donghyuck, who was always happy to oblige.

Deep down, he let Donghyuck make the decisions because he trusted him more than he trusted himself. Sure, Donghyuck had questionable music taste and strange hobbies (though said hobbies seemed a bit less strange now), but Donghyuck had always been one to make the right choice, even if it was more on impulse than careful examination of the situation. 

Staying here, though? That didn’t seem like the type of decision one could make impulsively. Not when there was so much at risk.

He sighed, but it was shallow. It was as if someone had taken a hold on his heart, squeezing it until it was about to burst. 

He remembered how happy Donghyuck had looked earlier. He couldn’t do this to Donghyuck, yanking him back into a world that he’d always felt so misplaced in. He couldn’t be selfish. But he wanted to be. So, so badly. 

Could he stay here? Live here, even if he felt like a fugitive, a lingering fear in the back of his mind of being discovered for who he really was? What about everyone back at home? All of the opportunities waiting from him there? Could he give up everything to be here, even if it was for Donghyuck?

He scoffed and buried his head deeper into his arms. He couldn’t even bring himself to stay away from his family for more than a few months at a time. How could he even expect to stay here for who knows how long?

He glanced down at his notebook, discarded to the side, still open to the page he was writing on earlier. He shut the cover and swallowed, his throat dry. He would do anything for Donghyuck, but it was hard to distinguish the line between hypothetical and reality. It was especially hard here, where reality felt like a disillusioned world of someone else’s design.

“Hey, heard you’d be here.”

Mark glanced up, rubbing his eyes to see Jaemin hovering above him, a gentle smile gracing his lips. “Hi, Jaem.” Jaemin held out his hand, and Mark gratefully took it, hauling himself up into a standing position. 

“We need to go.” Jaemin turned around and waved a hand at the forest floor, small bits of light illuminating the grass, creating a path for them to follow. When he noticed Mark staring, he quickly explained, “type of mushroom. Usually only shines around midnight, but I can speed it up. Come on.”

Mark nodded and the two hurried down the path back to the house, which was completely dark save for a single bedroom on the top floor.

“That’s Jeno’s room,” Jaemin said as they stepped into the foyer and he flicked on a light. “He stays up late to work, even though he always ends up losing sleep over it. He really loves what he does, brewing and everything.”

“I’m guessing that’s why he and Doyoung are so close.” 

Jaemin smiled. “Among other reasons, yes.”

Mark glanced up the stairs, trying to make out where Donghyuck’s room was. He craned his neck, expecting to see light spilling out from Donghyuck’s ajar door, but he only saw darkness. “Is Donghyuck here?”

“He’s upstairs. Probably sleeping,” Jaemin said as he guided Mark to the living room. “He’s the one who told me where you were. Asked me to come bring you back, since it was getting dark.” 

Mark tried to ignore the pang in his chest at Jaemin’s words. He slumped onto the couch. “Oh.”

Jaemin reached over to turn on a nearby lamp, then slowly lowered himself down next to Mark. He studied Mark, his expression pinched for a moment before it quickly smoothed out.

“He really cares about you, Mark,” Jaemin finally said, his voice soft, cautious, as if he was scared that if he said something wrong, Mark would bolt away.

“I really care about him, too,” was Mark’s quiet reply, sinking into the cushions. 

“I know.” And Jaemin was smiling, a knowing quirk of his lips, but he was too kind to say anything further. “He’s lucky to have someone like you.”

Mark leaned his head back onto the back of the couch. “Not really,” he admitted. “There’s too much going on. I’m confused, Jaem. About everything.”

“No one ever said you had to have everything figured out.” Jaemin hummed, low and contemplating. “What would you do if you figured everything out? Got all the answers you wanted?”

“I’m not sure.” Mark squeezed his eyes shut, seeing stars dance behind his eyelids. He hadn’t even considered what he would do with the information he had been searching for since he had first arrived in the realm. 

“Honestly, I don’t think you would do much of anything.”

Mark frowned. “I mean—I guess not. I don’t really know _what_ I would do.” He sighed. “But I _want_ to understand this. Even if I don’t do anything about it, I want to understand what’s going on, this whole world.”

“I understand.” Jaemin shifted in his seat, the cushion moving under his weight. “But Mark, be careful. You might find out something you didn’t want to know.”

Mark opened his eyes and peered at Jaemin. “Did you?”

Jaemin stilled for a second, then shook his head. “Not me.”

There were footsteps from the kitchen, and Mark glanced towards the source of the noise, expecting it to be Renjun or Jeno, since the two had a habit of coming downstairs during the night. Instead, it was Donghyuck, dressed in a loose shirt and sweatpants. He had stopped at the entrance of the kitchen, staring at where Mark and Jaemin were seated.

Mark weakly raised a hand in greeting. Donghyuck didn’t acknowledge it, staying rooted in his spot for another few seconds before turning on his heel and rushing out of the kitchen. There were steady footsteps of him ascending the stairs, and then the house plunged into silence again.

“I really pissed him off, didn’t I?” Mark didn’t look away from where Donghyuck had been just moments earlier. 

“Depends what you said,” Jaemin said, “But from the looks of it, he’s not really mad, but more hurt. Talk to him.”

Mark swallowed thickly. “Yeah, I’ll try.”

“I’m not the best with advice, but I’ve found that talking to people really helps. So I’m glad you’re not just bottling it up, Mark. The same thing goes with Donghyuck. Don’t bottle things up when it comes to him either.” 

Mark dropped his head in defeat, staring down at his legs. He couldn’t help but feel like a child that was being scolded by his mother. “Yeah, I know.”

“Just a gentle reminder that I’m always here to listen, no matter what. And if you’re not comfortable talking to me, I’m sure Jeno, or even Doyoung, would be happy to listen. Jeno told me earlier that you’ve met Doie already.”

Mark looked back up at Jaemin. “Yeah, I have,” he said with a small smile. “Makes me a bit nervous, to be honest, but he’s nice.”

Jaemin nodded. “He is! I know we don’t see him much at home, but you can always stop by his bookstore to talk to him.”

“Rigut, yeah.” Doyoung’s bookstore, small and cozy, behind the memorial. 

“It’s getting late. We should sleep.” Jaemin stood up to leave. 

Doyoung’s bookstore. The memorial. 

_The memorial._

“Wait!”

Jaemin turned around, his brows raised. 

Mark cleared his throat. “So, in front of Doyoung’s bookstore there was a memorial,” Mark began, fidgeting with his hands. He had no idea how much he could ask about this subject before Jaemin would get uncomfortable, but he had to try and see what would happen. “I was wondering if you could tell me about it? Like what happened and everything.” 

Jaemin’s eyes went wide for a second before he gave Mark a small nod, settling back down on the cushions. There was a stiffness to his figure, and Mark knew whatever was coming next wouldn’t be an easy tale to tell.

“About fifteen years ago, there was this witch. She had been exiled from the realm for some reason, and despite being warned several times, she kept returning. She was bitter. She blamed the magic realm for her problems, even though they had been very understanding with her. So finally, one day, she returned for a final time, and wreaked havoc on all of Manyeoni, and even on some of the surrounding forests.”

Jaemin pursed his lips. His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly, almost in an attempt to force the words out.

“She killed hundreds of people that day. She was powerful, more powerful than anyone had anticipated. She killed a lot of the magic council — including Jeno’s aunt — and some innocent people as well. The few people left on council were able to fight back and detain her, but it wasn’t until the damage was already done. She suddenly died in detainment a few weeks later, but that’s all we really know about what happened to her. The older council members sort of kept things running until Doyoung was appointed about four years ago.” 

Mark hugged his knees to his chest. “I’m so sorry. That's awful.”

Jaemin nodded. “The realm’s never really been the same.”

“Do they— do they know why she did all of that?”

“They never told us. Everyone said it was years of bitterness of being exiled piling up, but…” Jaemin shrugged, but he looked noticeably calmer than earlier. “If you wanted to know more, Doyoung could probably help you. He’d be okay with talking about this sort of thing.”

“He won’t mind me asking questions about any of this?”

Jaemin shook his head. “If you don’t give him a reason not to tell you, then you should be okay.”

Mark nodded and gave Jaemin a small smile in appreciation. He returned it, tinged with a sort of bittersweetness that seemed all-too-familiar on Jaemin. 

**Author's Note:**

> haha magic go woosh  
> thank u for reading much love <3
> 
> come hang out on [twt](https://twitter.com/jisunflwer) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/jisunflwr)


End file.
